My Favorite Nightmare
by I.-.-.I Kuroyagi I.-.-.I
Summary: No other options were open for him. The few people he could count on were already out of his reach for reasons he couldn't control. So, he had to resort to the last person in his list. The one person that could make every minute of his life a living hell. The one person he kept on returning to despite the burns. HighSchool!AU. Would rate M for strong language, but who cares?
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_** Erh… hello, everyone. Been a while, hasn't it?

Okay, _listen_ , I would go on a long rant about why I haven't written anything in the last year and whatnot but I sincerely cannot bring myself to explain. Plus, you don't need to know. Personal stuff is personal, y'know?

What _you do_ need to know is that **My Candy** is getting a **remake**.

Yes, you heard right.

 **A** **_goddamn_** **remake**.

Kiss _Shedauwz_ ' blond beard for this… also, send him some Big Mac's. Or black coffee. But that's only if you're truly thankful for this.

As for me? Well, it's not like you must to – nope, not talking about the beard part –, but if you drop a review or two it would be nice of you. Just sayin', I need a bit of motivation aside that of my friends, and you guys – whoever is left out there that follows my stories – are perfect for the job.

Now, hold yourself to the edge of your seat. This remake is gonna be _waaaaaaaaaaaaay_ different than the original **My Candy**. Not to say downright _awesome_. Which is why the title also changed and now it is called **My Favorite Nightmare**.

Why? Why, of course, because it refers to the attitude between the two main characters towards eachother. Got ya curious, didn't I? Yes, I did. Now, be good readers and continue all the way down to find out why that is. Heheheh~.

Alright.

That's all.

Enjoy the story and, remember, leave a review when finished.

Saludos.

* * *

 ** _My Favorite Nightmare_**

* * *

A bright morning sun like no other, the first clear sign of the end of Winter and the start of Spring in the city of Magnolia, was the main background the people saw once outside their homes, along with the lightly clouded skies that were the only residue of the snowy days they've been having not two weeks ago. Aside some small ponds that still remained here and there.

Activity was on the rise. While adults headed towards their jobs and/or random occupations, their younger counterparts, namely teenagers and infants, mobilized towards the institutions of learning that were their second home for most of the week.

Boring, isn't it? I know.

It is a pain just trying to describe it.

Even more so was thinking about it.

 _'_ _Goddamn it, why the hell did I say yes to that asshole!?'_ One of the teens from the mobs mentioned above thought inwardly, reprimanding himself for waking up an hour later than he should have. He shouldn't have eaten those burritos. The damned things made it a challenge to lie still on the bed after dinner. _'There's not even one person my age around! Shit, shit, shit! I'm late as fuck!'_

Kicking up the speed of his vehicle of choice, literally, the teen made a sharp turn around a corner by taking hold of a lamppost and, dodging a passing office worker by leaning his body back a little, continued on his hurried, merry way.

He had to be thankful the skateboard his father gave him for Christmas was brand new. If it had been the one he had been using for the last two years, he was sure that now he'd be screwing a loose wheel and losing even more time.

Hopping over a rail meant to keep the pedestrians safe from possible vehicles that might get out of control, the young man barely registered that he forgot to check if he was allowed to cross the street, even though to his luck the lights were red.

Was he still sluggish after all the movement he had been doing?

Maybe his brain hadn't woken up completely from its slumber, unlike his body.

 _'_ _This is just asking for trouble, but if I don't, I'll probably have an accident or something.'_ Sending one hand to his pocket, the guy pulled out a smartphone and started to type away on it, checking his favorite sites for something that would hopefully get his mind kicked in gear. _'Uh, results of the last football match? No. Yesterday's the tonight show's best moments? No, aaaagh, no no no, I'm not finding anything interesting here!'_

Crossing yet another street without looking and being lucky enough to not end up rammed by a passing vehicle in the process, the young man hurried his search for something to wake his mind up and instead typed away in hopes of finding something amusing among the news. Hey, don't blame him, he was doing his best despite being lethargic, having an upset stomach and a burning ass.

 _'_ _Arite, same shit in celebrities, same shit in politics, same shit in economy… huh?'_ The teen stopped scrolling down when a headliner caught his attention in the domestic violence section, a thing he clicked on without wasting a second. His mind finally jolted awake, his eyes widening when he processed what was written on the screen. _'Man dies after_ eating _coke from his brother's butt!?'_

The explosion of laughter was instantaneous.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

And his focus in regards to where he was going went to shit.

"East Side Gardens, ninety-three… huh, that's the place." Reading the address aloud, a blond man of a lean, tall, slightly muscular physique shook his head and looked around the buildings while crossing the street, trying to find the one where his job interview was supposed to be held. He took a sip from the coffee he got on the way there and readjusted the tie around his neck with his free hand. _'If all goes well, I'll be out of Gramps' house by the end of Spring.'_ "Tch, keep a positive attitude and give a good impression, if that moron's wrong I'm gonna kick his ass from here to the moon.'

He moved a step forward with confidence, psyching himself up for the interview that was going to kickstart his road to economic independence and-

"-HAHAHAHAHAH!"

-his head turned left at the sound of boisterous laughter. "Huh?"

The rest is just too horrible for me to describe.

But I will do it anyway.

The teen, looking up at the last second, got not a single chance to dodge the blond man in his way. The speed at which he was going, the distance remaining between the two, the other options he had instead of crashing into the man. If he bailed to the left, a vehicle might run him over, and if he jumped to the right, he was getting a free ticket to get a broken nose against a concrete wall.

With the mental equation done, the answer he got was fairly simple.

"S-sorr-UGH!"

His body crashed against the blond man and sent them both tumbling meters away from the initial collision spot, with the teen painfully landing on top of his sore and burning butt while the blond man was only spared any real tumbling because of his bigger form. He was only pushed back, forcing him to let go of the papers sent by the company that wanted to hire him and squish the paper cup of coffee he had in his hand.

With the dark brown liquid now spread all over his supposed-to-be white shirt.

How was he going to look presentable now?

His gaze turned to the cause of this situation.

It was a high-school teen, if his sight and mind weren't failing him; a uniform from Fairy Tail High – white dress shirt of short sleeves, tie of blue and yellow stripes, and gray dress pants – with a mop of spiky pink hair revealing itself from under a tilted protection helmet of black color. Together with the skateboard lying not two meters away from the two, the man figured the teen was a skater.

Wait.

Pink hair.

Skateboard.

He recognized the brat immediately.

"Ooooow… my… head…" This brat now holding a sore spot near his forehead was Igneel's son, Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail High, if he recalled correctly. A teen with a passion for skating and getting into fights every now and then because people mocked his weirdly colored hair. "What the hell, I thought the helmet was supposed to cover my head! What's with the pain, dammit!?"

Shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness he felt from the crash, Natsu looked around him to see if he could find the one he crashed against anywhere nearby and start apologizing, which wasn't all that difficult.

Said person was standing before him.

"Yo, _Natsu_." Strong arms crossed beneath a seemingly rock-solid chest, frowning eyes hidden under a shadow made by a patch of short, spiky blond hair and an eerie grin that promised death were the things the teen saw when taking his time to acknowledge just who he just crashed into.

I don't have to mention this whole picture scared him more than if it had been his very own father, now do I?

"H-hey there, Laxus." Natsu started in a friendly manner, shaking all over but figuring it would be better to play it cool to lessen whatever kind of retaliation in the blond man's mind. He stood up, dusted his clothes off and fixed his overall attire. "Lovely morning we're having, eh?"

The man's grin widened; this was turning diabolical. "Yeah, _lovely_ , whatever." His gaze fell on the skateboard lying close to them and he made to move towards it. Why not scare the brat a little more? Pretend to try and do something to it to have him freaking out some more. "What happened, Natsu? Running so late that you don't have time to watch _where the fuck_ you're going?"

"Y-yeah! That's right, I was running late to school so I kinda didn't watch where I was going!" The pinket acted quickly when he felt his precious skateboard in danger, holding up his hands to stop the blond and also start distracting him by trying to fix Laxus' messed up attire. His poor attempt instead fucking the man's shirt and tie up even more. "Y'know how it is, right? Can't be late or dad will throw a fit when he hears about it."

Laxus had to concede the brat was right on that front; even he trampled on some helpless people when running late to school back in his days in an attempt to avoid troubles with his grandfather later on. But there was one thing here he knew that just shattered the pinket's whole excuse.

Yeah, it totally wasn't just because he made the man drop his sacred coffee all over his brand new outfit, which was supposed to make him look presentable and trustworthy for the job interview that was about to start in ten minutes tops.

No, it wasn't about that at all.

"Here, see? All better now." The things that shattered Natsu's excuse were the facts surrounding the stupid teen. One, the boy lived close to the school, so there wasn't any need to rush at top speed on a skateboard. He could've just gone running and left the stupid skate back home or instead, woken up early like any other normal guy and arrive on time.

Seriously, Igneel's son was levels below on the intelligence scale.

And the way he just left Laxus' attire even more fucked up when trying to fix it was proof of that.

The man's visage darkened. "…"

Forget intelligence levels.

The brat was out of the scale.

Hell, did he even _know_ what a fucking scale was to begin with?

"S-so, yeah! I gotta run or I'll be late!" Picking the skate from the ground in a flash, Natsu fixed his helmet and got on the board with it facing the direction opposite of the blond man. He had to make it out of there quick or suffer the consequences. "Y'know how it is, right, bro? Anywaaaaay, _bye~_!"

He kicked the ground once but the scenery didn't move.

In fact, he didn't move at all.

A hand on his shoulder and a kick to his skateboard, which sent the object wheeling away from the pinket, made Natsu realize something.

There was no bailing out of the consequences with Laxus.

" _Ooooh_ , I know how it is, Natsu. _I know it all too well_." The pressure on his shoulder intensified and the teen started sweating bullets. This wasn't worth the good laugh he had before crashing into the blond man. " _But_ … I'm a responsible adult now, aren't I? Shouldn't I give you _a lecture_ or two about fucking things up the way you did?"

The sound of a fist tightening in preparation made the teen gulp down in added fear.

The good laugh wasn't worth this at all.

"Don't worry, Natsu, I'll hit your head first to numb the pain."

"W-what!? Wait! No no no! Laxus! S-stop! _Noooooooooo_!"

* * *

 _Fifteen minutes later…_

 _Fairy Tail High…_

Arriving late to school was nothing new to the pink-haired teen that was dragging his feet forward into the premises. In fact, if ever asked, he corrected the question made by the curious folks that wanted some answers.

 _'_ _How many times was I late? Hah… more like how many times I wasn't.'_ Nursing his head gingerly, Natsu eyed the deserted surroundings of the school's front and clicked his tongue in annoyance. If his friends were to hear about this, he was sure some would be willing to cover for him after hearing what kept him from getting there on time. That is, some. _'I wouldn't have a damn problem with this if it weren't because Gray will probably use it to blackmail me into doing something for him…'_ He groaned. _'Goddammit, today's just not my day.'_

The entrance hall was also deserted, save for a figure he saw dashing down the corridor the moment he entered. He figured it was another late running student that got there a few minutes before him.

Lucky bastard.

 _'_ _Uh, first class was… Biology… right?'_ Leaving his pads and helmet inside his locker while checking the schedule stamped on the metal door, the teen had yet another thing to groan about. _'Great, first class of the day is the one I'm worst at.'_

He took the book asked for the subject and closed the locker shut, aiming to make it through the hallways without a single teacher finding him or the board underneath his arm.

It wasn't anything new, honestly, this being his second year and all, going through the hallways with not a soul inside the classrooms detecting his lone presence moving stealthily outside. He _was_ using the board as a faster means of getting to his target, of course.

And that was it, the classroom's door – the one farther away from the blackboard and the teacher – was slid open, he rolled inside while the teacher lulled the students to a comatose state, left his skateboard beneath his seat and, when a young man of brownish-orange hair looked back to check if Natsu was in his seat by now, he got a friendly wave from the pinket in question.

He got inside classroom 2-C without anyone noticing.

Owned.

" _Hahaha… how in hell…?_ " The teen addressing Natsu, who strangely enough was wearing shades inside the classroom, only shook his head and chuckled at the pink-haired skater's skill. No matter how many times it already happened, he still couldn't understand how the guy managed to get in without having to endure a lecture from the teacher on duty. " _Is there ever gonna be a time when you can't sneak your way in, man?_ "

" _Who knows?_ " Natsu shrugged in answer, grinning at his accomplishment with some pride. Though, he did point out one important part of his success. " _I do know I'm lucky my seat's next to the room's back door… otherwise, I'd be screwed._ "

They laughed quietly a little more before the teacher called their attention back to the front and they had to resume their pretending-to-listen-to-the-drone-of-a-teacher mode.

Really, the guy could at least try to be more upbeat while killing them.

Talking about killing.

"The hell happened to your face, Natsu?" Another teen, this one having hair closer to style to Natsu's but of a dark blue color, questioned once he took a closer look at the pink-haired student's face and noticed the slightly red area close to the cheekbones. The teacher left, recess started, so the three were now chatting about the guy's late arrival to pass the time. "Hit a lamppost or did you run someone over again?"

Natsu grimaced at remembering his run-in with Laxus that morning. "I wish… I crashed into Laxus… and he wasn't too keen on me spilling his coffee all over his shirt."

"Wow… and here I thought it was another lady slapping the hell out of you for crashing into her boobs." Loke, the student with brownish-orange hair, hissed in sympathy. This, as he stated, wasn't the first time his friend went through something like this but it certainly was the worse so far. "How did you manage to stay alive?"

At this, the usual grin of the pink-haired skater returned fully. "Hah! Easy… I just dodged my way out while trying to get back on my skateboard before dashing away."

Gray rolled his eyes at the tale and pointed to the already bruising area on the guy's face. "Yeah, sure, but he was still fast enough to leave his signature on your face, dumbass."

Natsu frowned, giving the evil eye to his friend. "Oh, shut it, you'd have come out worse in my place."

An eyebrow twitched in the dark blue-haired teen. "You wish. My reflexes are ten times better than yours."

The pinket gave a step forward, forcing a grin. "Oh yeah? Wanna try and find out?"

"Now now, don't start a fight, guys. We're in school, remember?" The shades-wearing teen waved his hands down to calm the two teens while eyeing the eavesdropping class, turning to Natsu afterwards to pat the pinket's shoulder in worry. "And I would be careful about running into Laxus again anytime soon, man, for your health mostly."

"Uh-huh, I hear ya. It's not like I wanna have this scratch turning any bigger, now do I?" Stretching his arms over his head to get rid of the sleepiness he felt from listening to their teacher for the past two hours, Natsu looked around and, after seeing that everyone was doing their own things, he pointed up to the ceiling. "Say, why don't we get outta here? Let's go to the roof and get some air before recess is over."

"Yeah, let's go. Anything's better than staying locked up in here all day." Pulling out his phone to check on some messages, Gray shook his head, made sure his shirt was still on him and went on to join the guys out in the hallway. "Oh right, today we have a mock-test in Geography. We should ask one of the girls if they can give us some pointers or something."

"We should, yeah, I better get to it… with any luck they'll send their notes in two seconds." Loke nodded in agreement and grinned, taking his own phone out to check if any of his fangirls were willing to give him some pointers, which, of course they would be. "Never thought I'd say this, but sitting through that lecture Gildarts gave us years ago was worth every minute. Hahahah!"

Natsu nodded to the two to show them he was listening but paid attention to the road itself. There were many students, some he knew because of their friends, some because he knew them since the year before, and there were some who didn't look all that familiar; they were probably first years.

 _'_ _Second year already, huh? A bit more and I'll be out of this place.'_

His thoughts though weren't on the students they were leaving behind as they headed to the roof. It was on the activity that had his mind taken since his uncle came to visit his father and him a couple of years ago.

If anyone came to ask Natsu – when no one was around – if he loved skateboarding since he was given a board years ago, he would give a thunderous no in answer. He fell off of it way too many times, got motion-sick when finally getting a hold on how to balance himself and later got injuries on every single part of his body when trying to replicate the tricks he saw in TV, movies or games.

But his perseveration won in the end and, after a hundred pages' list of failed attempts, he finally got to ride the skateboard without problems, dishing out some tricks for his friends to look at in awe not long after.

"Hey hey, the sun's bright, the sky's clear, there's no wind. Today's perfect to get some practice done after school, don't you think?" Loke pointed to the group once the door to the roof opened and they made their way out the school. He took a large breath and exhaled it contently. "What do you say, Gray? Natsu? You two up for some riding when we're out?"

"Sure, we just need to find a way to keep ourselves alive through the remaining half of school and we're good to go." Gray scratched his hair a few times and later went to join the shades student close to the railing, wanting to appreciate the coolness of the midday breeze. He discarded his shirt on the way to the roof, something he obviously didn't notice. "We also need those pointers for Geography, remember? Got any replies so far?"

"Why, of course I did!" Showing his phone to the dark blue-haired teen, the shades student showed the amount of replies he got after asking for some help in his personal network. "Whose notes do you want? We have a good selection here to pick from."

"Damn… I know you probably grow tired of hearing this every time, Loke, but… good thing you actually listened to what that old man had to say back then." Gray stared at the screen with a hand under his chin and whistled at the amount of messages his friend had. If he ever got into investigating the list further, he was sure he was going to find the names of every single girl attending second year with them. "Hmm, who do you think will have the most complete notes?"

"Oh-ho~! Good question, my friend, and I have the answer." Grinning as he scrolled back to the start of the list, Loke pointed to a name among the top five places, the girl belonging to the classroom adjacent to theirs. "Here. Yukino is our best bet at passing the mock-test. If we follow her notes to the letter, we won't have to spend time in supplementary lessons after school."

The pinket smiled at the picture of his friends making plans for the exam they had in the next hour, having left that issue to them since they both knew well how to get around that sort of obstacle.

But him?

 _'_ _Agh… why doesn't time move faster?'_ He was hung up on what the shades-wearing teen mentioned the minute they got to the roof. The after school practice he mentioned was sound in his mind after the stunt he pulled earlier that day. It was also a good way to vent his frustrations and spend some of the energy he will be accumulating after hours of napping at the dull voices of their teachers. _'I swear sometimes I just want to drop all of this.'_

Getting close to the railing, he was able to spot Gray's practice trusty companion, a GT BMX bike, in the school's parking lot. It was shining as always with its light blue color blinding any onlookers that happened to take a glimpse of it.

Why the guy was obsessed with the color or with the source of it – Ice – he had no idea but he had to admit the color and design the bike had – that couldn't be appreciated from here – were actually kind of _cool_. Literally.

Of course, he was never going to say that to the guy himself.

No way in hell.

"Hmm? Wow! Guys, notifications! Gray, your vid just passed one hundred thousand views!"

"What? Really?"

Another thing he would never admit to the guy was that, Gray was actually a pretty damn good biker. He had a great repertoire of tricks and was also able to do things that most of the other pros in the area wouldn't be able to without getting some practice done before time. That and he actually won the few competitions that were held in Magnolia.

"And Natsu! Your vid just got a thousand likes! Congratulations, man!"

As for Loke, he was their cameraman.

He had been following them around since childhood and recording everything they did since the moment they started to do tricks the right way. He would later upload these videos in websites specialized in the subject, they would get likes and calls to participate in tournaments around the region, and they would go to show what they can do to the crowd.

Aside competing against those who claim to be better than them during the competitions, that is.

That brought a smirk to his face.

"Awesome, man! Now…" The pink-haired student rubbed his hands together and cackled comically, not caring for the odd stares he was getting from some other students that were around. He swung his arms around the guys and brought them closer while staring at the shades student's phone with a glint in his eyes. "What do you say if we step it up and finally show what we can do?"

"Huh?" Gray's brows went up in surprise. "What? You want us to start doing pro-tricks?"

"Duh, it's better than passing the days repeating the same old shit, isn't it?" Natsu pointed out with a frown, disengaging from the guys and staring at them with narrowed eyes. "Trust me, guys, we're ready. We just need to ask Laxus and my brother to come make sure we don't blow it and done."

His friends shared an awkward glance with each other.

"…eh, you do remember Laxus _almost_ beat you up this morning, don't you?" Loke asked carefully, not knowing if this was on purpose or if his friend got a concussion during his encounter with the blond man and forgot about the strong hit afterwards.

"And your brother doesn't even have time to see movies, remember? He missed the Deadpool movie." Gray shook his head and rummaged through his phone to check when was the last time they heard how the pink-haired teen's brother was. He showed the last seen message to the pinket. "See? Two months ago. He's buried in paperwork."

True to his words, the last seen message was from two months ago.

The dark-haired man was probably having a hard time now in his new job and could barely make time for himself, much less for them. Hell, they had to wonder if the man even got time to be human anymore.

And Laxus was aiming to get into something similar this morning? Really?

They were losing brothers left and right at an alarming rate.

"Okay okay, they're out of our reach… who else can we ask to look after us while we practice?" Natsu asked impatiently, itching to get his plan moving and start doing some tricks on par with Mullen's or Hawk's like he saw in vids when he was still getting down the basics. And he knew Gray surely wanted to give it a try too and get into the stage with some moves to put Reynolds to shame. "We can't go to the park and try the pro stuff without someone there to treat us if we fuck up."

Loke looked down to his phone, browsing for someone meeting the requirements and Gray looked up to the skies in thought.

Both looked forward at the same time and they gave the same answer to the pink-haired teen urging them for an answer.

At the answer, the pink-haired skater stared as if his friends had suffered concussions themselves.

"Really? _Her_?" Natsu asked incredulously, clearly troubled with asking any kind of favor from the person his friends recommended. "Is there really no one else? What of Lucy or Levy? Don't they know a thing or two about first aid?"

"Not that I know of, no." Gray shook his head with a sigh. "Though, I get it. I'd also like it better if they did know something about it."

"They didn't sign up for the first aid course at the beginning of the year, so no." Loke explained, shrugging at the pinket's exasperated expression. "Maybe Cana or Bizca…"

The pinket looked at the guy with wide eyes. "Then _why_ not them!?"

" _Because_ of Bacchus _and_ Alzack." The shades student recited calmly, not bothered by the rise in tone of his friend. "They're already taken by those two's clubs so they are busy after school, remember?"

 _'_ _Those two just had to start with their crap and take our only alternatives from us, didn't they?'_ Natsu groaned loudly, holding his face with both hands. This was one of those moments in which he thought the world didn't want him to continue with his passion. "There really isn't anyone else?"

"Don't make us repeat ourselves, moron, we already said no." The biker complained, getting fed up with his friend's overreaction. Sure, it was _her_ and _she_ was troublesome as hell but they had no other options open if they really wanted to start climbing up the professional ladder. "If there were we wouldn't be telling you _her_ name, now would we?"

"There there, let's calm down now." The shades student shook his head and walked to stand next to Natsu, patting the guy's back as some kind of comfort before pushing him lightly towards the entrance of the roof. "C'mon, if you're so uncomfortable with asking _her_ to help, I can go with you. Then it'll be two getting rejected instead of one, right?"

"Don't fuck with me, man." The skater growled threateningly, glaring at the brunet through the space made by his fingers. He didn't stop him from pushing him towards the door though. "A rejection is the last of our worries with _her_. Don't you remember what _she_ thinks about what we do?"

"Sure I do, but that's not the point today, is it?" Loke continued to push the guy forward, taking a look back to plead Gray to accompany them if possible, to which the student complied, and continued to try and appease Natsu. "That was that, this is this. I'm sure _she_ will listen to reason once we explain our case to _her_ , right? Gray?"

 _'_ _Do I look like a mind-reader to you?'_ The dark-haired student only shrugged. "Sure, I guess. It's not like us breaking bones for being stupid because _she_ wasn't there will sound okay to _her_. Maybe _she_ will come. Who knows?"

The pinket looked over his shoulder to glare at Gray. "Jeez, man, gotta love your optimism."

Gray smirked mockingly, flipping the finger to the pinket. "Suck it, moron."

* * *

 _A few minutes later…_

 _Student Council Office…_

Three guys standing upright in front of one that was only a year older than them as if they were soldiers before a superior officer sure looked odd inside a school environment. Especially to the other people inside the room, who had to wonder what was going on from just listening to bits and pieces of their hushed conversation, with little to no success at all.

The Student Council President, a third year student of spiky blue hair – that unlike Natsu's, wasn't standing on end and instead fell around his head – with a weirdly looking tribal tattoo over his right eye – that he claimed was because of his family's religion – allowed the three students from class 2-C to have a private meeting inside StuCo's office.

Why?

They had no idea.

Would time tell them the answer?

That was for time itself to decide, not them.

Back to the guys.

"…are you guys serious?" Jellal asked in a hushed, nervous tone, taking a careful look towards the representatives from the many classes in the school who didn't even take effort in masking their eavesdropping on their conversation. "You want me to mediate between the Disciplinary Chief and you three? Really?"

"Yes, we do!" The trio all bowed towards the president, surprising the eavesdroppers a little. The three knowing well they were asking too much from their friend. Loke raised his head though, winking at the guy. "If you wouldn't mind, would you also come with us and keep tabs on _her_? You know… to keep _us_ alive?"

The bluenet stared, his mouth open and trying to form some kind of reply to the outrageous request he received. Sure, he was friends with the guys since long ago, having been in the same middle-school before sharing the same high-school. He was willing to help the guys out in whatever problem they might run into; get into fist-fights, run around the town getting sponsors for the hobby they worshipped, and maybe get the School Board into adding an event about X-treme games for the Fantasia Festival by the end of the year.

But this?

They weren't pulling his leg with this request, were they?

 _'_ _Of fuckin' course they are.'_ Shaking his head from the shock, Jellal looked at his three underclassmen with the most serious, presidential look he could conjure, trying his best to sound composed. "Tell me again why you need _her_ help."

 _'_ _Ugh, just kill me.'_ Natsu groaned.

 _'_ _I already said enough.'_ Loke fixed his shades.

 _'_ _You assholes…'_ And Gray sighed at getting the message from the other two. _'Why don't you cut the crap and send me here alone? Tch.'_

So he was up for explaining everything to Jellal, huh?

Fine, he didn't have a problem with that.

( _Reasons that will be revealed in future chapters_ here~)

"…and that would be it, man. If you could, _please_ , try and get _her_ on board with this, we'll be thankful for life."

The StuCo president couldn't help but stare in silence after the explanation was over. How did he forget about that? It was so obvious he almost felt tempted to smack himself upside down for missing that incident. Or maybe play it like he was extremely busy with his duties as student president and ignore it all together.

Yes, that was the best option to keep his credibility intact.

Jellal coughed into his fist after a moment of thought, gathering the strength to answer the guys without sounding like he was covering his own ass while at it.

Something that was incredibly difficult with his honest personality.

How do you lie your way out of trouble when you have never done it before?

Wing it, fucker.

"I get your problem, guys, but I'm too busy nowadays to help you out." His lie was smooth and rolled off his tongue perfectly. It seems he didn't have to worry so much about it in the end. Retreating to his desk and chair with his form falling on top of it tiredly, the blue-haired teen thought on more ways to prevent this problem from falling on his hands. He already had a tall pile of papers on his desk to be adding this to the list. "Besides… you know how _she_ gets with these things."

Gray and Loke walked closer to the president's desk, supporting themselves with their hands on it while pressuring the third year student to help them.

"Yeah, we know, that's why we're asking you to help us out, Jelly." Loke said brightly, ignoring Jellal's pointed glare at the nickname they gave him that he clearly disliked to his core. "You're the most level-headed guy we know."

"And you also have more authority than _her_." Gray added with a quick series of nods. "If you order _her_ to oversee our practice, _she_ won't be able to refuse, will _she_?"

"Yes, and there's also that part of _her_ having a small crush on you during your first year, too! Take advantage of that!"

"Uh… I wouldn't go with that but… yeah, whatever makes it easier for you, Jellal. You know we need this."

 _'_ _Okay, let's do a recount here. I'm the most level-headed guy around, I can order whoever I want_ to do _whatever I want because I'm the head honcho after the Principal… and_ she _had a crush on me so that should make it easier for everyone to be happy.'_ Jellal rubbed his eyes with fingers from both hands, thinking hard on the matter. If he were to do as the guys asked, he was sure the plan would backfire at some random point. Mostly so because of said guys. _'If only the chance of them fuckin' things up didn't exist. Sigh. They just love to make my job harder, don't they?'_

Positive ending to the matter: the Disciplinary Chief would go, even if grudgingly, and oversee the guys' practice, making sure they didn't die if anything happened. Everyone's happy. Well, not everyone. Why? Because, the downside of this ending playing out was that the girl would have Jellal by the balls – excuse the crudeness – during important meetings. The president couldn't allow that.

Negative ending to the matter: the Disciplinary Chief considers lending her cooperation, one of the guys says something out of place, and thus they are turned into messy pulps of flesh, bone and blood. The bright side? The guys and he won't have to worry about anything else from then on. You know, because of the whole _pulp_ thing. So, no, another thing he couldn't allow.

This just _had_ to involve _that_ girl, didn't it?

Why couldn't it be someone else? Like Mirajane, Laki or Evergreen?

Or why in heaven's name couldn't the guys ask another of their friends to help them out, too?

This was such a pain in the ass.

"Aaaah… what do you think I should do, Natsu?" He heaved a long sigh, withdrawing his hands from his face, turning to the third member of the group in search of some possible advice or comment. The pink-haired skater was by far the most outspoken member of the group; if he didn't like something, he would say it despite whatever hell may come over him. _'If anyone here is capable of being honest to tell me what I should do is him.'_

But then, the guy wasn't in the room anymore.

"Huh?" Jellal blinked, eyeing Gray and Loke questioningly. "Where is Natsu?"

It was then that both guys noticed the absence of their pink-haired companion, looking in confusion towards every single corner of the room before giving shrugs of uncertainty to the StuCo president.

The room fell silent as the three guys tried hard to think on where their skater friend could be, wondering and wondering until the air started to grow heavy around them, affecting even the representatives from the other classes.

"…no."

"He wouldn't."

"He is not _that_ stupid."

The three laughed loudly, forcefully, as their minds tried to deny the most likely reason for Natsu to be missing from the room.

Silence fell again.

The trio exchanged nervous glances.

And before anyone could ask what was wrong, they were already bolting towards the door.

"WAIT!"

"NATSU!"

"DON'T DIE ON US, DUMBASS!"

* * *

 _Fairy Tail High's third building…_

 _Extracurricular activities' hallway…_

"Yo." Natsu greeted dryly to the person that took him almost a full fifteen minutes to find, ignoring the whispers from other students around him and focusing his attention on the person that he needed to get on board for his practice to actually get it started. "Got a minute? I wanted to talk about something with you."

Unlike the guys or other students, he wasn't afraid of the girl that was the Disciplinary Committee Chief of the school.

Not much at least.

He mostly felt annoyed.

Why?

Why, of course, because of the exact same face the girl was making for him now.

"Hello, _Dragneel_." The girl greeted in kind, using the same level of hostility in her voice as the guy addressing her. Even her eyes showed that she was ready to beat him senseless if he overstepped the limits of normal conversation. Long, straight scarlet hair cascading behind her, arms crossed underneath a not-so-high-school-level chest and brown eyes glaring back fiercely at the pair of green from the pinket before her. "I got a minute, yes, but I would appreciate it if you asked for it nicer."

Yup, she was pretty.

Well, she was downright stunning for someone so young.

But her words… ugh, a different kind of stunning.

Natsu held back a growl through sheer force of will.

This was why he had problems talking to the Disciplinary Chief.

Why couldn't she relax a little instead of being so stiff all the time?

 _'_ _With those boobs hanging twenty-four-seven from her front she surely has back-pains every day and she just adds more pressure by being a strict chick at school… just go on with that stick up your butt and hello to Ms. Hump.'_ Shaking his head from the thoughts that would only add more fuel to the fire already between them, Natsu heaved a long sigh and tried his best to change his tone from the one he used initially. "I just wanna ask for a favor, okay? Cut me some slack."

I did say _tried_ , didn't I?

Erza held back from slaughtering him through sheer force of will.

This was why she had problems talking to Dragneel or his group of slackers.

Sure, he was handsome when he was quiet, pensive.

But with the mere opening of that mouth of his, he became a handful.

Why couldn't he just try and be a little more polite instead of addressing everyone like he owned the place?

 _'_ _I've yet to know if his hair is natural or dyed periodically to keep an image of himself… just why would someone dye his hair pink anyway? Does he want to be a skater clown or is it just something he wants to have as his trademark? Whatever… I'll be sure to tell him_ I told you so _when he is a bald twenty-five year old.'_ Erza shrugged, pinned the commentary in her mind for later reference when the time came to mock the pink-haired teen, and focused on the situation once more, walking down the hallway with her eyes set ahead. "Okay, follow me. Meanwhile, try to be less aggressive, _Dragneel_."

 _'_ _Yup, so damn annoying.'_ Natsu bit back a snarl of insults and turned on his feet to follow the scarlet-haired girl, shifting his building anger on the gossiping students around than on Erza, who he had to convince for his plan to work. _'If it weren't because I'm not dumb enough to go and practice without fear of breaking my legs… goddammit.'_

"Where did Lucy say she saw Natsu going!?"

"Down this way to the right!"

"Oh, for the love of…! You better not be dead, boardhead!"

Turning to the right when they reached the end of the hallway, Gray, Loke and Jellal froze on their feet when they caught sight of Natsu following the one person they wanted to avoid from meeting the guy.

Strangely enough, though, there was no blood around.

No injuries on the pink-haired skater or the scarlet-haired chief.

 _'_ _Huh? What the… hell…?'_ The three looked on as Erza and Natsu walked by in front of them. Their clueless eyes meeting the girl's stern ones forced them to stand upright in hopes of getting away from any kind of punishment before they relaxed and met eyes with their friend, who seemed to be pretty annoyed despite the peacefulness of the situation.

"H-hey, Natsu, what's going on?" Loke asked once the girl turned left, using the very same hallway from which the trio came running breathlessly not two minutes ago. "W-why are you following her?"

At the question, Natsu clicked his tongue. "Tch, I just asked for a minute to talk and she told me to follow her. That's it."

And he disappeared when turning left at the end of the corridor, following the Disciplinary Chief with his hands shoved inside his pockets, leaving a pretty confused trio behind him.

 _'_ _What?'_ Loke glanced at Gray. _'Can you believe this?'_

 _'_ _Nope… no way.'_ Gray glanced at Jellal. _'What about you?'_

 _'…_ _sigh. He just asked her for a minute of her time? That's all?'_ Jellal brought a hand to his forehead, shaking his head slowly before laughing weakly at the bizarreness of situation. This was something only his thickheaded friend could pull off without suffering a single injury. How did he do it? Was there a manual? _'I swear, Natsu… you should write a book about this._ How to handle temperamental women, _by Natsu Dragneel. Yeah, it has a nice ring to it.'_

Sighing profusely, Jellal nodded to the other two and made to follow the skater. "C'mon, let's make sure their talk doesn't get out of hand."

"Uh…" Gray, doubtful, glanced at Loke. "Shall we?"

Loke, uncaring at this point, shrugged in answer. "Sure, why not?"

And so the three were on their way to follow Natsu and the troublesome Chief of the Disciplinary Committee, hoping nothing bad were to happen on the way to her office or when reaching the place and getting down to talking.

After all, with the pink-haired student being as annoyed as he was, there's always the chance of something going off the rails, like the many times he tried to do a noseslide back in the skatepark and ended up face-first crashing hard against the ground.

As always.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_ Huh… hello again, here I am with the second chapter of MFN.

I will let you guys read it and all, but first, I wanna say I am surprised with the amount of attention this remake is getting. I mean, sure, the amount of reviews is not staggering, nor is the amount of times it was Favorited or added to Follow Lists. But really? With the amount of time I've been inactive, I was almost expecting to find no reviews sans that of my friends and a couple of Favs and Follows.

This… this is a pleasant surprise.

Thank you, really.

 _ **Shedauwz:**_ _Oh puh-lease, you dick. You knew this was going to happen. Praise be to Kuroyagi, the returning NatZa genius-addict. No, seriously, keep the reviews and stuff going, oi. I'm not betaing this crap for the shits and giggles, you know?_

Yeyeyeyeye, whatever you say, hubby. *chuckles*

 ** _Shedauwz:_** _…did you just call me hubby? **HUBBY**?!_

Now, I warn you… I'm not really good at subtleties concerning romance, so if what I wrote in this chapter came out too sweet… bear it.

With that out of the way, please, enjoy the second chapter.

 **Saludos.**

* * *

 _ **My Favorite Nightmare**_

* * *

 _City of Magnolia…_

 _Skatepark…_

"Is this… the place?"

"Yeah… pretty sick, huh?"

"… _sick_ , yes, that's one way to describe it." Erza responded in a derogative manner as she eyed their surroundings. The place she agreed on going to supervise the guys after being convinced earlier in the school was in no way a joint she would spend most days. Not even if she enjoyed the activity she did there. "I expected worse, but this? I'm at a loss for words."

The place looked like your normal, everyday skate park; with the cool exception that there were tons upon tons of skid marks covering the different obstacles, and some graffiti on the tunnels and bowls. This meant, of course, that the place was regularly visited.

If by the three boys she was accompanying today or by other sympathizers of the sport, Erza couldn't tell. Since this was the first time she ever went to the place, the whole scenery was new and there were more questions than answers in her mind.

Leaving the camera he was preparing to use during today's practice, Loke eyed Erza through the edge of his shades, giving an empathetic smile. "I know, right? The place looks like something pulled out from a post-apocalyptic independent film, doesn't it?"

The scarlet-haired chief only regarded his comment with a blank expression, completely missing the student's attempt to ease the atmosphere. "A what?"

'… _okay, this is the third time I tried and she still doesn't understand pop-culture references. Where the hell are you guys!?'_ The teen smiled weakly at the blank stare and waved a hand to dispel any possible reason for the girl to think he was mocking her or making fun of her. On the inside though, he was praying for the guys to hurry to the place. "N-nothing nothing, don't mind me."

"Hmmm." Erza frowned at the nervous evasion from the teen, continuing her inspection of the skatepark. She had to wonder why the other two were still not there, whereas their friend and she were already waiting for over half an hour. _'I would consider this to be a prank of sorts if it weren't because Jellal vouched for them.'_ Her frown deepened, remembering the other reason for agreeing to this. _'Dragneel looked pretty honest with his request, too, despite the way he asked for my assistance.'_

Dark green eyes set on her as if she had offended him in some kind of way beyond imagining, with words that held both a tone of reluctance and respect. The second-year student conveyed his message as best he could and remained quiet the rest of the time.

True to his word, he only wanted to ask for a favor.

Not a bad one, if she had to judge.

' _Which begs the question: what is taking him and Fullbuster so long that they aren't here already?'_ The first-aid kit next to her shook a little when she begun to tap her left foot impatiently. This also further scared Loke at her side. She looked around the area, beyond the park's limits, to see if there was any sign of the two students anywhere. _'If they are not here in five minutes, I will return to the school and go on with today's duties. I can't leave everything to the underclassmen.'_

The biker and the skater separated from the group after leaving the school premises earlier, claiming they were going to head back home so that they could change into clothes fit more for the activity. Their uniforms were too constrictive to be used during stunts like a Tailwhip in Gray's case and a 900 in Natsu's.

At least, that was what they told her when they left Fairy Tail High at top speed.

Thirty- _one_ minutes ago.

"Loke! Aim this way!" A loud yell came from the entrance to the park, making Erza turn around to see what the noise was about while Loke did as he has always done for the past year. His camera aimed to the closest moving object in the vicinity, the lens caught the image of one Gray Fullbuster performing a Hang Five. "I'm a goddamn genius!"

Dressed with a pair of dark green trousers, an orange t-shirt and black sneakers, the dark blue-haired teen was standing with one foot on his bike's front pegs, steadying the two-wheeler with his body. The front wheel served as a base while the back wheel remained in the air. The form was shaky since this was the first time the young man ever attempted the trick seriously, but it was as good a start as any.

"That's awesome, Gray! Ten seconds! Keep it that way for ten more seconds!" The brownish-orange haired student yelled as he steadily tip-toed around the biker and made a 360° take on the trick, shooting from every angle he could think of, except from above. He returned to Erza's side when it was done and gave a thumbs up to Gray. "Done! Now finish it like a pro!"

At his call, Gray's brows furrowed in concentration; it was not easy to do the trick, especially with him standing on the front pegs, but if he kept focusing as much as he was now and retraced his actions in one fluid motion…

"Alright! Here… I… go…!" Hitting the bike's seat with his butt to send it down, Gray pulled one leg back to the pedals to steady his position and avoid the seat from impaling his buttocks. He then kicked before sending the other leg back and started pedaling away with a smirk on his face. He felt a minor slip from his left leg when pulling this one back but it was barely noticeable in his mind. "Hahah! Nailed it!"

"Hahahah! Great, man! Great!" Loke grinned, nodding away as he kept on shooting the pedaling Gray who was now raising the front wheel to perform a flatland Barspin. Satisfied, the shades-wearing student paused the recording and high-fived the dark-blue haired teen when this one came to a stop near the Disciplinary Chief and him. "I can't freaking believe it, Gray! How long did you practice that trick?"

To this, the biker – who was stripping out of his shirt at the moment – shrugged, smiling cockily. "Believe it or not, that was the first try, man."

The shades student only shook his head in amused denial. "I swear you and Natsu always pull off things on the first try."

Gray winked. "But you know it's true on my side, man."

"Yeah, yeah. Hahahahah!"

' _First try and that's the result?'_ Erza cocked an eyebrow at the exchange, not getting the excitement of both boys over the trick performed a minute ago. The balance was shaky and one of Fullbuster's legs slipped a little by the end. She thought on saying that to the second-year students but, seeing how happy they were about it, she shrugged and let it slide. _'It's not my place to criticize them, plus it really was impressive for a first try, if it really was the first.'_

"Oh yeah… where's Natsu?" Loke asked once the excitement wore off and they were back in reality, his hidden eyes checking the area as if the pink-haired teen were to come up from under one of the obstacles. "I thought you two were coming here together."

"That moron's not here yet?" Gray rolled his eyes and crossed his arms on top of his naked chest, shaking his head. "Then he's likely to –"

"I'm all fire'd up! Yeeeeeeeah!"

A loud yell and the sound of polyurethane wheels rolling fast and hard over cemented ground called the three's attention towards the closest obstacle to them: a ramp-wall about three meters tall. It wasn't the biggest out of the three located in the park but it was still a challenge for anyone that were to take on it without having a little push from another ramp nearby.

There was a guy riding towards the imposing obstacle; a lean, muscular young man of average height with a slightly tan skin tone, spiky pink hair, and dark green eyes that looked darker in the distance. His attire consisted of a black tank top with a fire dragon design on the front, a pair of white short pants, black shoes of high neck to protect his ankles and a scaly scarf tied tightly around his neck.

This guy, namely Natsu Dragneel, was the one they were asking about, and he showed up to the place already in action. He was kicking up speed for his skateboard to take on the tall monster without using any other ramp or even a nearby bowl to go beyond the limits a simple set of kicks could give.

His partners in crime looked at each other with blank expressions.

"…he's gonna try it again."

"…should I film it?"

"Dunno, should you?"

"Should I?"

"Good question."

With the exchange over and their worries voiced, Gray and Loke stared on, waiting, expectant to see the results.

"Huh? What are you two jabbering on about over there? Why are you staring at Dragneel as if he's about to do something incredible?" Erza questioned in annoyance, getting fed up with these two and their one-on-one conversations.

Here she was, spending precious minutes of her time to look after the biggest trio of morons in the school, and they were going to exclude her from the conversation?

The silence continued, undisturbed.

' _Are they serious?'_ She looked towards Gray, who she knew from their kindergarten days, and asked again. Albeit, _delicately_. "So? Are you going to answer me or not?"

"Huh?" The dark blue-haired student looked at the Disciplinary Chief as if she had just arrived, but at the sight of her pronounced frown, he shook his head and got into explaining. "O-oh! You mean Natsu? He's gonna try an aerial. Y'know, a Three-Sixty."

' _An aerial?'_ The frown disappearing, only one eyebrow remained up when the explanation was over. Why did their answers seem to sprout two questions more in her mind? "What do you mean, Fullbuster? What's a _Three-Sixty_?"

"Eeeerh…" Gray stuttered and shook his head, not finding it in himself to explain the trick to the young woman now. Instead, he pointed to the pink-haired skater. "Just look on, if he pulls it off, what you're going to see will be a Three-Sixty." His eyes narrowed. _'Hopefully, he won't break anything this time.'_

' _Agh, these guys are impossible!'_ The scarlet-haired girl thought as she diverted her attention from the useless source of information called Gray to the late arrival and his attempt at whatever the hell a Three-Sixty was. _'I swear, this better be worth the waiting.'_

Natsu himself was focused on what he wanted to do, adding more and more speed to his ride the closer he got to the ramp. He knew by experience – past failures mostly – that at the speed the skate was advancing now, it would only take him as far as the full height of the wall against which the ramp was placed, not beyond.

' _I'm not gonna quit again and do a fuckin' hold on the border like last time. This time's for real!'_ Giving one final kick, the teen steadied his position on the board with his feet placed evenly on its surface and his legs bended to lower the air resistance. His arms and hands moved slightly every second to keep him balanced, especially now.

The noise made by the wheels turned louder when he went up the surface, noting the pressure on them made by Natsu to keep the skateboard steady in its ascent, but the speed remained intact.

The pink-haired student allowed himself to grin.

"...oh shit, he's done it!" Loke yelled out in amazement, scrambling to get his camera working and on recording mode.

"That fuckin' board-head really pulled it off!" Gray's voice was a mixture of annoyance and excitement, his mouth giving a half smirk of pride at the sight of his friend in the air.

"… _that's_ a Three-Sixty?" Erza too, having not seen the pinket doing something of the sort before, could only stare in awe as the others.

The form of Natsu was high in the air, hair and scarf billowing with the afternoon breeze, keeping the skateboard glued to his feet with one hand while the other was extended to the side to force the natural spin of the trick to happen.

It was amazing.

His arm extended to ensure the skater didn't end up landing in a weird position, most likely on his face, showed how much practice the pink-haired teen put to the success of the trick. He was meaning to keep his form from breaking and allow him a safe landing after the spin was over.

Oh, the sun was also outlining his figure from behind when he got to the highest altitude the force of the launch could send him, but that's just for dramatic purposes. No need to pay much attention to the awesomeness.

A full spin of the skateboard later, the teen's face turned towards the ground below and he released his hand's hold on the board, returning to the same form he had before going up the ramp. He rolled down safely, with one foot moving to pressure the board down and raise the front, and when he was only a few feet away from the spectators, he stopped, his grin still in place.

"So? What? No words? I'm too awesome for my own good, aren't I?" Natsu boasted excitedly to the speechless crew before him. He crossed his arms and sent a wink towards the lens of Loke's camera, the grin widening. "All natural, no editing involved here. Hahahah!"

' _Forget the thousand likes from earlier; if he doesn't get five thousand with this one, I'm quitting YouStream.'_ Loke nodded a couple of times with his camera recording a few more seconds before turning it off. Despite what the pink-haired skater said, he was going to edit the piece a little bit, for the sake of adding music in the background and getting some adjustments done to the illumination. The sun messed up the image a lot when Natsu was at his highest. "Alright, done! Good job there, Natsu!"

The two exchanged a brofist while the pinket kicked his board into a standing position, taking hold of it with his free hand before resting it on his shoulder. He was feeling accomplished with that trick he just performed, like he was sure the other stunts he were to try after that one were going to be easier to do.

"Gotta hand it to you, board-head, that was sick." Gray admitted with his half-smirk still in place. Pride be damned, for the sake of good sport the dark blue-haired student kicked his pride away and gave praise where it was due. "What's next? A Five-Forty?"

The pinket did it a couple of times in the past too, when it was the other way around and it was the brunet accomplishing an awesome trick.

"Five-Forty? You kiddin' me!? Hell no! Next thing on my kill list is the Nine Hundred!" Natsu joked half-heartedly, his excitement was still intact but not really on a level that it could get to his head and make his last words sound true. "Also… yeah, thanks, man."

Sure, he was dying inside to go now and try the fearsome pro-trick that took many professionals time to accomplish, but he could tell it wasn't the right time for it.

 _Yet_.

Another brofist was exchanged and the group got ready to start with their usual practice, Gray heading to the ramps with Loke on his heels while the pink-haired teen thought on trying out a few other things at the bowls.

Yet something clicked in his mind.

"Ah, right." He stopped and looked over his shoulder when he remembered the third person joining them that day. The scarlet-haired girl was looking at him questioningly. "Hi there, chief."

' _Huh?'_ Erza stared in confusion at the pink-haired greeting her. Wasn't he passively hostile towards her that morning and during most of their encounters back at school? "Hello…?"

From past memories, she knew Natsu wasn't really fond of the things she did at school, mostly so because of that incident at the end of the last school year. It wouldn't be surprising if he made a friendly approach only for this one to be some kind of prank to get even for that.

Which wasn't it in the pinket's mind; completely the opposite from what she was thinking, he was more into the idea of approaching her in a friendly manner to not feel like an asshole later. But then, there was always the chance of her swatting his friendliness away like a measly fly that was bothering her.

' _I should keep my distance and go on with the practice… but then I'd feel like an ass for asking her to come and not saying anything to her. Goddamn it, why is dealing with women so difficult?'_ Turning around fully, Natsu scratched the back of his head, sighing as he looked at the pavement, and tried to say something that wasn't as hostile as earlier that day. "That was a Three-Sixty, y'know?"

Okay, the tone wasn't hostile but the way he said it could use some improvement.

' _Oh? So_ now _someone wants to break things down to me? And that someone has to be_ Dragneel _? This day is full of surprises.'_ The Disciplinary Chief quirked an eyebrow in wonder; was the second year student trying to make small talk? "I know, Fullbuster told me what it was."

' _Fullbuster…? She means Gray? So I'm not the only one she calls by last name, huh?'_ Nodding slowly, the pinket suddenly felt his interest piquing at the small exchange. "That so?"

He lowered his skate to the side, his free hand placing itself on his waist, trying to look and sound as nonchalant as he could. It was as good a time as any to move past what happened months ago and try to know the Disciplinary Chief in the flesh.

' _Who knows? I might see something awesome if I do it right.'_ Plan and goal set in stone in his mind, Natsu tilted his head at the scarlet-haired chief with a miniature, mischievous smile. He just had to prevent the memories from ruining his chance. "Did he explain it right or just told you to look at it?"

The scarlet-haired girl felt like a spotlight had just been placed on her.

What was with the sudden interrogation?

"He… he told me to look at it."Shifting on her feet awkwardly at having the dark green eyes of the pinket focused on her, Erza crossed her arms below her chest and answered honestly. _'…what is he getting at?'_

It wasn't that she was unaccustomed to being stared at fixatedly like this; even less by the same guy that was glaring daggers at her while asking for her assistance.

But now, the light in his eyes as he motioned for her to say more was different.

' _Why is he looking at me like that?'_ Dragneel's eyes seemed to be more… subdued, almost amused. Completely different from earlier and more in tune to how they shone whenever he traded words or jokes with his friends. But she wasn't a friend of his, now was she? Most curious. "There wasn't enough time for him to explain what the trick was without missing how you did it."

"That sounds like ice-freak alright." _'Hah? Well, in her defense, even if there had been time, Gray would've messed up the explanation anyway.'_ Natsu nodded in understanding and made a pointing motion towards the biker in the distance, his eyes catching sight of the guy chickening out from doing a Tailwhip when reaching maximum air on the ramps, landing normally instead. "He probably was so hyped to check out if I was gonna make it that he left my actions speak for him, can't blame him."

She nodded doubtfully at his explanation.

"I… I see, that should make sense, yes." The Disciplinary Chief frowned; the impasse in the conversation was not on purpose but she really didn't know how to go on. _'I don't really talk a lot with_ Dragneel _… not to say we don't talk at all.'_

' _Huh? Why's she quiet now?'_ It was Natsu's turn to frown. The small talk he started was actually kind of nice, so why the girl would cut it off with this silence? He inspected her face from up close, trying to get her attention. "Hey, chief? You there?"

' _I should probably thank him for the small talk and let him do what he wants.'_ But the Disciplinary Chief was in a world of her own, debating over the simplest of things. Should she say something or just remain quiet until the pinket left to practice with his dark blue-haired friend? ' _He probably chatted a little with me just to -'_

Something hitting her forehead made Erza snap out of her musings, bringing a hand up to the damaged spot. She glared at the offender who was standing just in front of her.

"Hey, why're you frowning?" The pink-haired skater asked curiously, having flicked the girl's forehead to call her attention back to reality and out of her overthinking. "You suddenly got all quiet and serious there, chief."

The way she remained quiet after her last answer ticked him off and how her brows furrowed, and each second that passed in silence only added more to that feeling.

"H-huh? I-I did?" Erza rubbed the stinging spot on her forehead and turned her glare into a frown more pronounced than the last one, feeling annoyed by how the pink-haired student took the liberty to – why was his face so close to hers? "Wait, w-why are you - !?"

She stuttered.

Erza Scarlet just stuttered and backed away from him as if he were threatening to do something impulsive to her, which of course wasn't his intention, but still it almost made Natsu laugh out loud for everyone nearby to hear.

This was just the kind of awesome thing he was expecting to witness.

It was worth the loudest laugh in the world, but Natsu held it back, making it come out as a snort instead.

"Sooooo you're not as stuck up as you make it look, huh?" The snort turning into a light chuckle that he was polite enough to cover with his hand, Natsu withdrew from the girl's personal space and dropped his skateboard on the ground, stabilizing the four-wheeler with a steady foot on it. "Here I was starting to think you were pure business… but you can be kind of funny at times, huh? Hahahah!"

He shoved his hands inside his pockets and kicked away, rolling towards the guys as he gave an amused smirk over his shoulder to the still shocked girl. "That's cool, chief, good to know you're not a wall! Hahahah!"

His words and laughter sounding like an insult to the boiling scarlet-haired girl, one couldn't really say it was wrong of her to take hold of the first-aid kit at her feet to hurl it at the skater's head in the distance, successfully making him slip from the skateboard below him and fall to the ground hard on his butt.

Natsu howled in pain, rubbing both his butt and the back of his head while hissing. "G-goddamn it! It fuckin' hurts!"

This in turn, called the attention of his friends.

"Huh? What happened - AAAAAH~!" Gray stopped a trick mid-way in the air because of the distraction, which led to him losing balance on the landing and crashing hard as well.

"N-Natsu!? W-wait, what!? Gray!?"

And Loke couldn't decide where to look at; the dark blue-haired teen that almost dislocated his arm? Or the pink-haired one that was also in a pinch, trying to discern which hurt the most, his butt or his head?

' _Ooooooh, fuck it! I'm an amazing friend already! Natsu should be able to understand that!'_ He settled with Gray, who was holding his side in pain, leaving the issues with the pinket for later. "Gray! You alright, man!?"

At the edge of all this chaos stood a panting red-eyed, scarlet-haired demon that, from the looks of it, seemed to be ready to kill.

"S-serves you right, _Dragneel_! N-next time you laugh at me that way, it won't be _just_ a first-aid kit to your head! R-remember that!" Erza howled as she stood with demonic eyes in the distance, lowering her head to hide the warmth that crept to her face from the embarrassment. Seriously, who in blazes did the pinket think he was? _'This is the last time I accept any kind of request from him! I swear it!'_

"Ow ow ow!" Shaking his head to ignore the pain and regain a bit of his senses, Natsu stood up and turned towards the Disciplinary Chief with a glare in place. "Hey! The hell was that for, _chief_!?"

"Don't pretend to be oblivious, _Dragneel_! You fully know why I did that!" Erza yelled in kind, overpowering his angered glare with hers. "You think laughing in people's faces is socially acceptable!?"

"S-socially what?" The pinket paused, shifting to a kneeling position and facing the girl as he tried to make sense of her words. "What does _that_ have to do with you throwing stuff at me!?"

"What does it have to do!? Are you an idiot!? I told you to stop pretending!" The warmth on Erza's face stopped being from embarrassment and turned into one of anger, marching to yell at the skater in his face so that the words would be better processed in his head. "You don't laugh in people's faces, _Dragneel_!"

"Oh yeah!? Well, you don't yell in people's faces either! What does that say about you, chief!?" Natsu retorted quickly, clenching his teeth at the red-haired girl whose ample chest was getting dangerously close to his face. He blushed, as any healthy man would, but said the one thing he should have never said in such a position or situation. "And watch it there! Your boobs will knock me out if you get any closer!"

The level of noise in the skatepark dropped down to that of a cemetery during a cold, winter midnight. Bone-chilling silence only interrupted by sudden gusts of wind that made the trees nearby sway and the branches rattle, giving the already scary place more reasons to be fearsome.

'… _w-what was that?'_ Even Gray, who was going through excruciating amounts of pain at the moment, stopped his groaning to stare in Natsu's general direction, his mind trying to make sense of the bits and pieces he managed to hear over his strained groans. "H-he… he didn't say what I think he said… d-did he…?"

'… _I should've gone with Natsu.'_ Loke laughed weakly. Life slipping away from his body with every second that passed and the shades-wearing student's only prayer was for his camera to survive the apocalypse that would follow. Not just for mankind to remember them but for mankind to know what transpired in that skatepark. "Y-yes, Gray… N-Natsu said… w-what he should've never said… ever…"

Cruelty and despair.

Pain and blood.

It was the very definition of a massacre.

The once joyful skatepark turned into a very eerie, solitary place after that day.

* * *

 _That night…_

 _Scarlet Residence…_

A cool night deserving of an extra blanket or more, since the last vestiges of winter had yet from leaving the region, was what received those people walking around the city in their search for nightly entertainments. Or perhaps they were outside because they had a liking for strolling during bone-chilling evenings? Who could tell?

Erza sure couldn't. The idea of someone outside at this hour was very possible for her but it wasn't her concern. She had other things to worry about.

She stared at the image of herself reflected in the mirror of the family bathroom and then shifted to examine herself from the side, frowning when she realized someone was right with their comment earlier.

'… _a-are they really big enough to knock someone out?'_ The scarlet-haired student frowned, recalling the words of the dumb, second-year skater before she punished him that afternoon. _'I know they've grown a lot in the last few years… but… would they really do something like that if I'm not too careful?'_

Girl problems.

You have got to respect them.

No matter how silly or inane they seem to be.

' _No… no, I'm sure Dragneel only exaggerated.'_ She shifted her stance in front of the mirror to inspect her breasts from another angle and her frown deepened. She poked one of them and felt the softness with her own fingertips. They weren't hard enough to be dangerous, in her opinion; they were actually softer than how she heard other girls had it. _'A marshmallow is harder than these… yes! Dragneel didn't know what he was talking about! He's just an idiot with a mind only focused on skateboards! I shouldn't be so concerned with whatever thing coming out of his mouth!'_

A triumphant grin morphed onto her face.

How could she be so silly?

She struck her chest up with pride and nodded to herself. _'Yes, I shouldn't worry about it. He was just running his mouth like the idiot he is.'_

"…I don't mind what you're doing in the bathroom, dear, but call me curious." An amused voice called out from the entrance to the bathroom, startling the girl – who yelped at the sneaky presence that she failed to notice – and chuckling at her flustered state. "Oh my, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Blatant lie. "Now, why have you been staring at your chest for the past few minutes, dear? Hm?"

"H-huh!?" Turning to the entrance of the room with a strangled gasp, Erza found the very image of herself – but several years older – leaning against the doorframe. An adult woman of with large amounts of scarlet hair thickly braided and located in the front and back of her body as pairs, all of which had bows near their ends. Her curvaceous body resembled that of her daughter's, albeit fully developed, having reached its mature form a long – a writer by the name of Narukami punches the author – OW! Uh, having reached its mature form some time ago? Yes, that's it. Some time ago. "M-mom!? What are you doing here!?"

Just her luck.

If there was someone she didn't want to be aware of her problems, it was her mother.

Why? No, they don't really have a strained relationship or have trouble communicating or understanding each other, as is the case of many teenagers in the world with their own parents.

No, her case was less dramatic and far more amusing.

"We live under the same roof, dear, remember?" Her ever so mirthful smile made the young girl shiver. "I was just checking up on you before going to sleep."

Erza didn't want her mother to know because, despite the chance of the woman having the right answer to her problems, she knew it would be at the cost of many days of having to endure teasing like no one had seen before.

The woman's lips turned upside down in worry. "You were pretty quiet during dinner today."

Okay, maybe her mother was actually concerned this time.

But still, she should be careful with this.

She should know; the woman still joked about the times she used to beat up boys because they kept mistaking her for a boy and how the little Erza would leave them worse for wear without much effort.

The memories of that day's events made her grimace.

No, she couldn't tell the woman what happened that afternoon.

But… she was still curious – and worried – about Dragneel's claims concerning her front.

Maybe she could voice her problem without going deep in the details?

"I… I was just checking if my breasts grew since the last time I measured them." Erza confessed bashfully, avoiding her mother's incredulous eyes to not let the woman see her burning face. Sure, the woman was family and one of the few she could trust wholeheartedly but, do I really need to write her reasons for fearing saying too much in front of her? "M-my clothes have been a little too tight lately, so I wanted to verify if it was because of that or not… there's no other reason for doing this!"

Oh for the love of…!

Why did she add that last piece to her explanation?

Now her mother was showing her teeth in a grin so big that more than a grin it looked like a predator bearing its fangs at its prey.

Why was she such an awful liar!?

"Really now? Oh my, Erza, and here I thought you were considering a boob-reduction." Irene's own rationalization made the young Disciplinary Chief splutter and give a loud yell of denial. How could the woman even consider she was thinking something like that? Her mother laughed loudly, waving a hand to calm the distressed girl down. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! No need to jump like that at a random joke, my baby girl." Her eyes glinted in mischief. " _Unless_ … it is not so random and you were actually thinking about it?"

The following yell earned them both a visit from the local police the next morning.

The yells following next disturbed the neighbors enough to call the cops on them.

Oh joy.

But that's the future, let's rewind to the present.

"I'm not even considering something like that! How could you think I was into such an outrageous idea!? Really, mom! Just how!?"

Let's go forward a bit, this might take some time.

The outraged yells of her daughter having stopped completely, Irene sat on the mattress belonging to Erza with the aforementioned girl sitting begrudgingly next to her, still a bit flustered over the past argument. She caressed the long strands of her daughter's hair, which resembled hers in color and sensation to the touch, trying to calm her down a bit more before continuing the conversation.

Was she as overreacting as her little girl when she was younger?

Or was this something she took from her father's side?

Who could tell?

"There there, it's alright. Sorry for teasing you like that." The words left her mouth in a softer manner than when she found her in the bathroom, reassuring the girl that this time Irene was in full motherhood mode and not in a teasing mood. "But you have to tell me what happened, dear, otherwise, I can't help you."

Erza thought about it for a moment, weighing down her options.

This was her mother, after all.

The argument of before was enough to kick the woman out the room and forget about ever revealing her problems to her.

' _Maybe I should tone down the teasing a bit in the future.'_ Irene frowned at the silence, nudging her girl's side gently to get her out of whatever she was thinking. "C'mon, Erzy. I swear I won't tease you… and I won't laugh either! Promise!"

Erza looked at her mother's sad puppy eyes from the corner of her eyes and sighed, knowing well the woman wouldn't leave her alone until she came clean with whatever problem that was bothering her.

"…today, uhm, a boy said something offensive and…"

By the end of the tale, Irene was speechless.

Just who was this Dragneel boy to be so rude to her daughter?

Insulting the family jewels like that, he deserved the punishment her daughter applied to him a hundred times worse than what she heard was delivered.

' _Really, boys these days.'_ Irene sighed, shaking her head with a hand delicately holding her forehead. She rubbed her little girl's back, consoling her from the bad experience she had. "That boy Dragneel was extremely rude to you, dear, even though that only happened because of what you did to him."

" _What!?_ " Erza turned towards her mother with the most betrayed expression she could muster. Was she really taking that pink-haired idiot's side? Why!? "He started it! He flicked my forehead and started laughing at me out of nowhere! Why are you taking his side!?"

' _Not only are the boys dense… girls these days sure are harder to understand than they were in my generation.'_ The older redheaded woman sighed, knowing this would take a while. She withdrew her hand from the girl's back and folded it together with her free one beneath her ample breasts, which were a few digits bigger than the girl's. "Erza, don't tell me you don't understand what happened. This Dragneel boy was just acting playful with you and you reacted aggressively because you thought he was making fun of you. In fact, you lost sight of the whole conversation because of the last thing he said."

The girl bit her lower lip. "B-but he was rude! H-he…!"

"We went through this once already, remember? That time you scared that cute blue-haired student during your first year of highschool?" Irene shook her head and rested a hand on the girl's back. "Really, dear, you've got to stop acting so defensive when people try to get close to you."

"I-I don't get defensive…" Erza crossed her own arms, looking down to avoid the reproachful gaze of her mother. Her form still had some strength but her voice was starting to sound doubtful. "N-not _that_ much anyway."

"Of course you don't, that's why we're not having this conversation right now." Moving her hands again, the older woman brought the girl in for a hug, patting her back to soothe her daughter's frustration. "My little girl is better than this. She will realize she overreacted and apologize tomorrow to the Dragneel boy."

"W-what!?" Chestnut eyes widened at the words before coming to rest on Irene's form. "You don't really expect me to -!"

"And she will do that after the Dragneel boy apologizes for making my little girl self-conscious of her figure." Giving a final pat on the girl's back, the woman raised herself from the bed and walked towards the exit of the room. She stopped and gazed back with a half-encouraging half-mischievous smile. "Until then, my little girl will make sure to keep the boy on the tip of his toes. Am I clear on this?"

Erza stared at her mother for a full minute, the implications of her last order finally sinking in at the same time a smile matching her mother's formed on her face.

"Yes, mom. Crystal clear."

* * *

 _Same time…_

 _Dragneel Residence…_

While the house of Scarlet united under one banner against a common cause, in the house of Dragneel the case was the complete opposite.

"What have I been telling you, boy!? First that Strauss girl and now the daughter of that Belserion woman!? Are you really that stupid!?"

"But daaaaaaaaaaaad! It wasn't my fault! She threw a first-aid kit at me!"

"I would have thrown you a car if I had the strength! How can you be so dense, Natsu!? Where did I go wrong with you!?"

The young student was fighting against a man who could most likely be a future version of himself, except for the long, spiky crimson hair, the taller height and the scars the man had on his face. The two were really alike in the rest of their features though.

' _Clearly, you don't remember how dense you were when we met, Ig.'_ Shaking her head at the childish fight happening in the middle of the living room, Grandeeney brought a hand to her forehead as she sighed. She used her free hand to pat the head of her daughter, little Wendy at her side, and reassured her that the fight wasn't actually anything to worry about. She looked on at the pair of males who were now wrestling on top of the sofa. _'Or how you always resolve everything like a child would.'_

"L-let me go, old man!" Natsu yelled with a comically angry face, struggling to free himself from the armlock his father had him in. His right arm was starting to go numb and it didn't help that Igneel's knees were pressuring his lower back to disable his legs. "Aaaaagh! Once I get out of this, I'mma break your old bones like twigs!"

"Hahaha! It's still a thousand years too early before you can even free yourself from my mighty hold, brat!" Igneel laughed with glee. The fact that he was still able to put his young, stupid son in place even when this one was at the peak of his youth gave a huge boost to his self-esteem. "Surrender now and admit you were wrong with Belserion's daughter!"

The pinket growled loudly, struggling even more for his freedom. "Ngh! Like hell, old geezer! I won't apologize to that red-haired demon!"

"Oh-ho! In that you're wrong brat! You will apologize!" The father's yellow eyes glowed dangerously, his hands moving to take the boy's arm he had under his control and moving it to a more awkward position. Natsu paled. "And you will start referring to other people with respect too!"

The man's hands twisted the arm in its hold a bit to the left and a bone popped.

Wendy hid further behind her mother.

Grandeeney sighed louder.

And Natsu screamed _bloody murder_ for the next few hours.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**_ New chapter, hopefully written in the amount of time I expected it to. Or maybe not. ( **22/07/16:** Definitely not. Goddammit.) I swear, writing each chapter is a slow, tiring process that has me thinking on each thing that I want to happen in the story. You know, to keep it as far away as humanly possible from the original story. Not that MC was bad, nah. I just want it to be less impulsive, emotional, childish and random. Also, I want all of its chapters to be equal in quality and length.

Not a lot to ask for, right?

Meh. Thanks to all of you that left a review, faved and/or followed. To those that read it, too. Your contribution makes me write a little bit more, even if it doesn't look like it.

Goddammit, I should try to sound less like an 80-yo professor when I write. LOL, get rekt m8, sugoi, shit up a storm, yada yada yada.

 **Shedauwz:** _…the fuck?_

Yeeeeeeeeah… nope, mission failed.

Anyway, read and enjoy.

 **Saludos.**

* * *

 _ **My Favorite Nightmare**_

 _City of Magnolia…_

 _Fairy Tail High…_

 _After class..._

Many things to do in one day but not enough time to do them all is what many people in the world agree to be the worst one out of all the troubles in their lives. Honestly, wouldn't you rather prefer to be doing some other thing instead of being here reading these lines? Some people would, yeah.

Which, right now, was exactly the case for one young book-loving girl going by the name of Levy Mcgarden; she was very much annoyed at the papers sitting at one side of her desk, looking smug and ominous as they towered next to her lowered head.

Regarding her appearance; her hair was tied neatly behind her with only two strands loose and framing her face, wide hazel eyes that would normally shine in front of a piece of paper – belonging to a book, not these ones – and a pretty innocent looking façade. These belonged to the young female student from class 2-B that wore the same uniform as any other girl attending Fairy Tail High.

Pretty standard, wasn't it?

Sans for the uniform, which was one size too big for her – a _small_ detail you should never ask her about, for your own damn sake –, there was nothing wrong with the young teenage girl.

Besides, who cares about the other girls! She was _waaaay_ more aerodynamic than them! A pro she took in stride. She had nothing to weigh her down. Why? Because she had justice on her side.

Cough.

Back to the annoyance she was directing at the papers atop her desk.

' _I've been correcting requests for StuCo ever since I sat down here two hours ago,'_ comparing the tower of papers already done and the one with the papers still waiting, she had to suppress the desperate urge to throw them all out of the room in flames or ripped to shreds, if she had the means to do such things at hand.

…maybe the ability to make the elements she writes about come to life before her? Yes, maybe the ability to write _Fire_ down and have the voracious element magically come to life atop her desk, to scorch the sickening tower of requests from the students in the blink of an eye.

But then, her heart would not stand the sight of the papers going through that. Her mind would most likely picture it as if they were her own books being set aflame. She sighed and calmed down. _'Why didn't I stay quiet when they asked for a class representative? I could be with Lu and Yuki out in the library right now if not for this.'_

Her thoughts drifted then to the many activities she could be indulging in if not for this obligation she took. The possibility of passing an afternoon at the library, going through mountains upon mountains of books together with the other two people she knew would enjoy it, wasn't the only thing popping into her mind at the moment.

There was always the option of going to the skatepark.

Meet up with the odd trio of the school and hang out with them for a while.

And maybe actually set her mind straight this time and see if she could muster enough courage to –

"Hm… Levy? Can you come here for a sec?"

Tooooooo – do what? Muster enough courage to do _what_ again?

"Uh?" The voice of StuCo's president diverted the girl's attention away from the daydream that didn't even get to start. She stood up, walking up to the front desk to hear what the senior teen wanted from her. Perhaps the blue-haired president found a mistake in one of the papers she presented earlier? She cringed at the thought. "Y-yes, president? What do you need?"

' _I really hope Loke is wrong about this.'_ Said youngster looked up from his phone at her, bewildered eyes blinking a couple of times to catch up with what she asked before bursting into a fit of chuckles. "It's alright, no need to call me so formally, Levy."

One of the representatives in the room snorted at the words.

' _W-why do I keep forgetting that? We're friends since middle-school, Levy! Since middle-school! Ugh!'_ Levy had the decency to lower her head in embarrassment at the reminder, hearing small giggles from the other students in the room behind her back. She nodded shyly and asked again. "S-sorry, I will remember it next time… so… you needed something, Jellal?"

"That's more like it… and yes, I do, follow me." Jellal nodded after another chuckle, giving her a small smile. He stood up from his chair with a finger pointed at the door, clearly wanting to take the talk outside. _'The room's full of nosy representatives after all.'_

Hell, he was still trying to make them forget of what happened the day before with Natsu and company. The way he and the others darted towards the door when they found out the pinket wasn't with them anymore. Ugh, even _he_ was making an effort to forget about it all.

"Okay, that takes care of the eavesdroppers." Nodding to himself once the door slid shut, Jellal faced the blue-haired girl with the same smile he had once inside. "Now… as for what I wanted to tell you… no, more like request from you."

His smile dropped and a sigh escaped him.

Levy's head tilted to the side in wonder at this.

Was he going to ask her to do something complicated?

He _was_ going to ask her something complicated, wasn't he?

"Can you go to the Disciplinary Committee and see… if… uh…" He lowered his head and scratched it awkwardly, not knowing how to word his petition without sounding imposing. In his mind, it looked like he was taking advantage of his position to force people into running errands for him. _'There's no other choice… I would go there myself but I have to make sure the slackers in the office get their asses moving.'_ He looked back at the girl through the corner of his eyes and saw her staring at him in cluelessness. He sighed again. _'And she knows him as much as I do, there's no one better nearby.'_

"Uhm… Jellal? Everything alright?" The blue-haired girl questioned after the long silence, a bit curious on what the third-year student wanted to ask of her. "I go to the Committee and then…? And then what?"

' _Yeah, better her than the others. I know I can't ask Mira for help without hearing how she made things worse later. Levy it is.'_ He gave a third sigh and straightened up his stance, looking more composed now with his thoughts in order. "Go to the Committee and make sure nothing bad happens. Sorry for being cryptic, but I know people are hearing us behind my back –"

The sound of footsteps scrambling hastily behind the closed door made the girl yelp in surprise and the boy to feel sad about being right with his assertion.

Those sons of –

"– and I know you'll surely get what I want you to do once you get there." He turned towards the office, giving a sheepish smile as his hand landed on the crevice of the door, ready to slide it open. "Try not to take any sides and maintain order, okay?"

With that said, the young man opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind him..

Leaving Levy outside, feeling very confused in the middle of the hallway.

She didn't have a single clue about what she had to do.

' _U-uhm… I… I should go there and see with my own eyes, I guess?'_ The poor class-rep shook her head in submission and started to walk towards the Disciplinary office, trying to understand what Jellal wanted her to do in there. Was there a discussion of sorts on the horizon and he wanted her to go in his stead? _'It could be plausible… he's pretty busy now and can't go there himself. But then, why me? It's not like I can stop a discussion if one starts. No one pays attention to me when the yelling starts.'_

Sighing at the same time her head slumped down in misery, the girl resigned to her fate and made a beeline to the destination set for her, greeting some known students on the way that were still roaming the school even though classes finished a couple of hours ago.

"I said I'm sorry!"

The thought of why _she_ was sent to the Disciplinary office still haunted her.

"And that's how you apologize!? Really!?"

It was making her mind wander through so many possibilities, all so likely in her opinion, that she had no other option than to walk forward to get the true answer.

"I said sorry and then you started bitchin' about –!"

" _LANGUAGE_! We're _inside_ the school! We have _rules_!"

"Oooooh, _fuck_ your rules! _I WON'T WATCH. MY_ _ **FUCKIN**_ _'. LANGUAGE_!"

It wasn't until the sound of wood breaking at the end of the hallway that the girl snapped back into attention. Damn, she was getting lost in thought a lot lately, wasn't she? Her slumped head rose from staring at the floor and gazed ahead, noticing that there were two people struggling under the frame of the Disciplinary Committee's door.

A boy and a girl were holding each other by the arms and trying to push the other back, either in – in the boy's case – or outside the office – in the girl's case –.

That subtle innuendo there.

' _I-I-Is this what Jellal meant!?'_ Levy ran at full speed in alarm, wanting to fulfill the president's – her friend's request before anyone got hurt seriously. _'W-why me!? I don't have the means to stop people from fighting!'_

She got closer by the second.

And so did her image of the people fighting.

Wait!

Was that Natsu?

" _Fuck_ your rules, chief!"

Wait, wait!

The door to the office was broken?

"You're going to pay for that door, _Dragneel_!"

Wait, wait, wait!

He was struggling with the Disciplinary chief!?

"N-Natsu!? W-what are you – _WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE_!?" Levy shouted once she reached her destination, standing to the sides of the two fighting parties. She could notice the members of the Disciplinary Committee inside the office, hugging each other for dear life at one corner of the room. "Stop what you're doing, RIGHT NOW!"

At her order, which came out quite nicely in her opinion, only the pinket stopped for a moment to regard her with a blank, curious look.

"Uh? Levy? What're you – … _WHOAAAAAAAAAAA_!?" The second Natsu stopped applying force to the push he was doomed beyond human comprehension.

The crimson-haired demon saw her chance and inhaled a very large amount of air in preparation.

"You are going to RESPECT. MY. _RULES_!" Erza raised one leg to the guy's chest, kicking hard now that the guy dropped his guard. She relinquished her hold on his arms when the leg extended forward and needless to say, the pinket was sent flying towards the opposite wall to the office's entrance.

Quite the feat, if I may say so myself.

" _OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW_ – _AGH_!"

The impact reverberated across the school.

It made several students notice that there was something going on inside the school premises and for those who were aware of what that tremor meant, it was a sign to scamper off.

Even Silent Hill was a thousand times safer than the school now that the Disciplinary chief's switch was flipped.

"Na-Na-Na-Natsu…!? A-are you alright!?" Levy managed to yell after her vocal cords managed to work again. The sight of the teenage skater trying to regain his senses with his back embedded against the concrete wall of the hallway left her almost speechless. Her gaze travelled back to the cause of such thing, finding the still seething Erza standing a step outside the office that was her domain. _'A-ah… s-she's crazy…!'_

" _Y-you_ better learn how to apologize, _Dragneel_." The redhead growled lowly, sending waves upon waves of hatred towards the still dazed second-year student with her glowering eyes. "Until _then_ , don't get anywhere close to me. _Got it?_ "

She took the beaten door by a side that wasn't full of splinters and slid it shut, the force behind the action cracking the broken top part of it, which fell to the ground as a result.

It was pretty pointless of her to close a broken door when you can just peek inside the room through the missing fraction, but who was going to be brave enough to tell her so?

From the panicked voices and footsteps inside the office, it looked like no one was.

Pussies.

"S-she's got… quite a temper… huh?" Levy murmured under her breath, steadying herself once the senior left the hallways. Her eyes turned to Natsu, who was now struggling to stand up. She rushed to his side, gingerly holding the guy's arm after he hissed at her touch on his back. "Are you okay, Natsu? She kicked you really hard there."

"U-uuugh… y-yeah, I think I'm fine." The pinket breathed out between groans, feeling like he had just tried and failed the mighty 1080 stunt from the highest ramp in the world, crushing his back against the ground with the speed and gravity to make it worse. He shook his head with a hand holding it by the forehead and leaned a bit of Levy's form, eliciting a small gasp from the girl without his notice. "God… I swear… that chick is so hard to understand."

"U-uh, yeah, the chief is a very… _unique person_ , so to say." The midget buckled under the weight of her fellow classmate, taking a step back to readjust her stance. She looked towards the broken door, wondering what happened up until she got there and decided it would be better to take the young man for a check-up in the infirmary before doing any questioning. "Anyway, let's continue while we go to the nurse's office… that hit just now sounded pretty bad."

"W-what? No way, I'm – OWOWOWOWOW!" Natsu tried to straighten up his posture to prove he didn't need any check-ups – the school's resident nurse was scary after all – but the second he did so, his back proved him wrong. "W-what the _fuck_!? It _fuckin'_ hurts!"

" _LANGUAGE!_ "

The yell coming from inside the office made the pinket forget his pain momentarily to glare and bare his fangs at the person behind the broken door.

There was a thing or two he wanted to yell back to shut the girl's mouth for good, but he decided better to just roll his eyes and whisper a last insult under his breath. "Oversensitive bitch."

" _I HEARD_ THAT, _DRAGNEEL_!"

Wait, what?

How did she…?

Levy and he did a double-take, blinking at the voice with their mouths open in surprise until the latter moved his lips to say a final _"…what the hell…?"_ before following on the girl's advice to visit the infirmary.

The day just kept on getting hectic, no matter how you looked at it.

* * *

 _Student Council's office…_

 _Some minutes prior…_

'… _too late. Too fuckin' late.'_ Jellal brought both hands to his face and sighed deeply once he felt the small tremor. He should've been quicker about it, sent Levy as soon as he got the message or run to the room himself. Or maybe not. This wasn't entirely his fault. He pulled his phone from his pocket and glared at the last message he received, burning holes through the device. _'Why the hell didn't Loke warn me in advance!? I'm gonna get an earful from the Principal because of this, goddammit!'_

Figuring that glaring at the poor electronic device would help no one, nor lessen his building anger, he decided that giving the man a call to settle things was the best course of action.

So, looking for the button in the menu above the messages he exchanged with the guy, he tapped on the _call contact_ option and brought the cellphone to his ear, waiting just a few seconds before someone picked up on the other side.

" _Heeeeeello~! This is Loke! How can I help you tod –?"_ His suave greeting was cut short in an instant.

The cherry tone he had only made the blue-haired president even madder.

"Loke, you _pendejo_! Why didn't you warn me about this sooner!?" He didn't waste a second to yell at the mic of his cellphone, scaring the rest of the representatives in the room with his sudden mix-up between his family's language and English. Everyone knew that if he was mixing up both languages, either he was truly mad or it was a national holiday from his culture. And no, _Cinco de Mayo_ was not one of them. "Natsu's probably a stain on the wall and I have to deal with Erza turned into a mad _chupacabra_!"

…forget I said anything.

A nervous chuckle was heard from the other side of the call. " _W-well, I didn't get some of what you said, but why are you raging at me? I didn't do anything!_ "

The door to StuCo's office was opened and a person went in, this one rushing to the president's side to whisper something to him.

She was one of the class-reps of the school.

And she had bad news for him.

His breathing hitched and his eyes saw red.

The girl retreated as the rest of the occupants in the room.

' _You are kidding me.'_ Jellal barely stopped himself from raging even more when the poor representative – a girl from class 1-C that is not relevant to name – came to tell him what she witnessed in the Disciplinary Committee's office. He was just inches away from smashing his phone against the desk. " _Chingados_! Because of that very same reason, moron! From what I've been told; I have a broken door, an injured friend, and a ticking bomb in the Disciplinary Committee!"

A gasp was heard from the other side of the phone. _"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop right there, man! How's any of that_ my _fault!?"_

" _Idiota_! Can't you do the math in your head?" The president breathed out, trying to calm himself a little since he was attracting too much attention to himself. There were even some passing students in the hallway looking inside the office at his raging form. "You saw what happened yesterday, didn't you? What did you think it would happen if Natsu went to see Erza, without supervision, _again_?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. _"…oh."_

' _These guys are gonna turn me into a complaining eighty year old man if they keep it up like this.'_ The student president sat down in his chair and sighed profusely; glad his point finally reached the cameraman's brain. "Yes, _oh_ , now I have a mess on my hands and I can't get it off with just washing them."

"… _bow chicka bow wow."_

A vein popped out in his forehead.

An uneasy grin appeared on his face.

Uh-oh.

" _Loke_ … I'm still in the mood of sending you to hell and get you back just to kill you again." Jellal rubbed his throbbing forehead and hissed. "This is not the time for catchy phrases from online series!"

" _Hey! Not my fault you left a pretty obvious opening for me there!"_ Loke yelled back, chuckling lightly. _"_ See _? Even I did it! Bow chicka bow –!"_

The following yell made the entire room and its occupants jump out of their seats and under the desks in a matter of seconds. Just when they managed to calm their already scared hearts from the president's initial outburst, this happens?

Seriously, the blue-haired teen should find better friends.

" **LOOOOOOOOOOOOOKEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"**

That and some hot, honey tea to prevent his voice from going hoarse from all the screaming he was making at the guy's teasing.

Cough cough.

Bow chicka bow wow~!

* * *

 _Fairy Tail High's Infirmary…_

 _Present time..._

With the pink-haired skater patched up and told to take a moment to regain his bearings, since it looked like the injuries on his back were a little worse than what he was willing to admit, Levy thought this was as good a moment as any to ask the guy how everything went down inside the Disciplinary Committee's office before she got there.

Mostly because she was curious about what was said to turn the Disciplinary Chief into such a beast.

Come on, she broke a door and physically harmed a student that was supposed to be under her care.

That was bound to pique her curiosity one way or another.

"Natsu?" The guy withdrew his eyes from checking out his wounds to acknowledge the petit girl's call, turning his head and body on the bed to regard her better. This made her a little nervous since she had a pretty clear view of his nicely shaped built, but knowing there were more important matters to resolve first, she chose to ignore it… for now. "What happened with the chief back there? That's the first time I ever saw her physically harm someone other than Elfman from the judo club when he gets _too manly_."

Really, where in blazes did the overgrown man thought it was a wise idea to challenge the senior student to a duel?

He was a few levels above Natsu in the stupidity scale, that's for sure.

"Hah, tell me about it." Natsu groaned and shook his head, adjusting the bandages strapped around his torso. They itched a lot and they restricted his movements more than he liked. What if these prevented him from practicing for the next few days? Oh, the Disciplinary Chief would get a piece of his mind if that were the case. "I just went there to apologize, okay? Because of yesterday's shit and all that."

When the girl remained quiet, the pinket figured that what he said wasn't enough to properly inform her about the situation.

So he told her about the last day's events, not omitting anything and even mentioning how he was almost knocked out by the senior's melons.

It was… mildly amusing, yes, but ridiculous mostly.

'… _Natsu, I know you're dumb, but this is a new level, even for you.'_ Levy blinked in a daze after the recount was over. She was literally speechless. How? Just how could a simple teasing end up in such a disaster? _'Well, I know the chief is pretty self-conscious and dislikes cocky attitudes, even from those close to her… sigh, she is partly to blame for this, yet you could've toned down the teasing back there.'_

While these thoughts ran across the girl's mind, the skater went on.

"Then I go home and dad gets all mad at me when I tell him why I had a bump about the size of our house at the back of my head. He twists my arm until I surrender, and then he makes me swear I will apologize to the chief first chance I get." Finishing his tale while Levy was still silent in thought, Natsu crossed his arms and pouted, feeling like the world was just mocking him with everything that's been going on lately. "God-fuckin'-dammit! This is the last time I try to be a nice guy, y'hear me?"

The petit class-rep gave the young man some time to calm down, knowing from experience that Natsu as he was now would not listen to anything she were to say.

He was a good guy at heart, just a little bit hardheaded.

"Y-yeah, Natsu, I hear you." Smiling awkwardly at the childish display from the sophomore, Levy adjusted her position in the chair she took from one of the corners of the room and gave the guy her full attention. She now knew what made the pinket go to the Disciplinary Committee today. _'I have yet to know what was it that happened before I got there.'_

Time to find out.

"Natsu?" The guy looked at her from the corner of his eyes, still sulking – or pretending to, at least –. "Erm, I know it's too soon to ask, but… how did you two end up fighting this time around?"

"Huh? You wanna know what happened this time?" The boy's brooding reverted to the anger he was showing back in the hallways, growling dangerously when he recalled the argument of thirty minutes ago. He gave the girl his full attention, noticing how he had her scared with his sudden change in mood.

Could he tell her about it?

Maybe?

Well, she was Levy. She was an overall nice girl and one of the few friends he had in the school. _'Two very good points in her favor, yet… should I tell her how I fucked it up?'_

Despite those points, Natsu figured that he couldn't.

What if she told the others about it?

He had no problems in the girl sharing the information with say, Lucy, Jellal or some of his other friends.

Hell, he had no problems if even some people outside the school were to find out.

However…

"You wanna know what fuckin' happened?" If this were to reach Gray's or his brother's ears… oh, he doesn't even want to imagine what those two bastards would do with the information. The assholes already had a lot of shit on him, too much to the pinket's liking, and he wasn't all that hyped about making the list longer. There was this brotherly competition to uphold and Natsu was lagging behind because unbelievable things like today's happen to him on a daily basis. "I'll tell you what the hell happened! That girl's bat-shit crazy!"

"…uhm, I think you said something like that when we were heading here, Natsu." Levy reminded him carefully, laughing nervously at the whole situation while she tried to ignore the piercing glare of the skater. She noticed the guy's obvious attempt to finish the subject with a strong remark. This was why she was going to ask him again, despite how dangerous it looked to do so for any unknowing passer-by. "What I want to know is what did you two say to each other back there?"

Natsu wouldn't dare to jump on her because she's pushing the subject, right?

They were friends from a long time ago; surely the boy had a soft spot for her, right?

He growled lowly.

Levy gulped nervously. _'He does, right?'_

'… _the hell am I doing?'_ The boy's façade changed after his attempt to avoid giving the real answer failed, this one _softening_ to something a small scowl before he sighed and looked down to his hands resting over his lap. _'Hiding the truth isn't worth scaring out a friend… sigh… what the hell is getting into me lately?'_

Natsu took a long, calming breath, preparing himself to tell the truth this time.

"Okay… here's what happened." The blue-haired girl blinked at the new shift in his mood and leaned in to hear him attentively, wisely choosing not to point out his continuous mood swings for fear of losing her chance. The boy ran a hand through his hair, leaving it there to scratch it as he spoke. "I went to the committee's office and asked her for some time to talk… she nodded and…"

* * *

 _Disciplinary Committee's office…_

 _30 minutes ago…_

"Yeah… uh, y'see, can we talk for a minute?"

"Yes, _Dragneel,_ we can." Erza nodded neutrally, looking around to make sure the rest of the committee's members were busy on their desks, regarding the young man of pink hair with a careful gaze.

After last night's talk with her mother, she was willing to try and be more empathetic with other people, give the young man an opportunity to rectify his mistakes before moving in to rectify hers.

'… _though I still feel he is here to rant about yesterday and make my task harder to topple. I don't know how I'll face mom tonight if I go back without solving this_ apology _fiasco.'_ However, with how Dragneel came to the office wearing that sour expression on his face. There was a slight chance her newfound understanding was about to be crushed before being actually put to use. "What do you need? Make it quick, please. There are many things we have to do before everyone leaves back to their homes."

I did say _newfound,_ right? It will take some time before she can also apply it in the way she addresses people.

' _Yeah? No kidding, Sherlock, where do you think I wanna be right now? I had to bullshit my way with the guys to keep them from finding out about this… good thing Loke will keep it secret for me. I hope.'_ Natsu scratched the back of his head and looked down, closing his eyes in concentration as he sighed. _'Anyway, here goes nothing. I swear, old man, the things you make me do.'_

How the hell did he get himself in this shit?

Sure, he was told way too many times that whenever he opens his mouth something bad is bound to happen, especially around girls within his age range, but really? Sometimes this whole bejeezus was beyond ridiculous.

Thinking about it left him so tired; it felt as if he had been practicing with his skateboard the entire week non-stop, more often than not.

"About yesterday, chief," when he looked up, his eyes had this tired and annoyed air about them that made the girl in front of him frown doubtfully at what was coming. Was he really going to apologize? Or was she right in her guess about him coming to rant? "I wanted to apologize for… uh… teasing you, yeah. I was out of line and I won't do it again."

The frown disappeared.

This was… an unexpected turn of events.

' _Huh… look at this. He really is apologizing.'_ The crimson-haired senior blinked in surprise, nodding slowly to the boy who was expecting some kind of reaction from her at his apology. This development did make her part of the deal easier to handle. _'Who knew Dragneel would apologize this easily? Definitely not me.'_ "U-um… thank you, Dragneel, that's really mature of you."

'… _wait, wut? It worked? And what was that?_ Mature _? Really?'_ His drained expression changing to a more upbeat and relieved one, the pinket grinned to the chief and brought his hands to the back of his head. This turned out to be easier than he thought it would be. And that mature compliment there had a really good effect on his mood. He could get used to this. "Weeeell, glad you think that, chief! I'm really sorry about what I did. Promise not to do it again."

' _Okay, now he's just reverting back to the same Dragneel of always.'_ Erza shook her head in slight amusement, feeling a small smile on her face at the sudden 180 the guy did. It was similar to what she saw yesterday; it seems that when the pinket was relaxed and was not being put on the spot, he was actually not that bad to speak to. A mental frown formed in her mind. _'I guess I don't get to see that often from people because I am always keeping them on their toes… huh. Maybe that's what mom meant? To do the opposite? Did she use reverse psychology with me?'_

And while the red-haired senior submerged deep into her little world, Natsu waited for some kind of reaction from her, knowing fully well – this time around, at least – that snapping her out of her reverie would be bad for him.

' _I know I shouldn't snap her out of her thoughts, but she's taking too much time. What the hell is she thinking about?'_ The salmon-haired student's gaze wandered inside the room, meeting the sympathetic ones of those who were used to this side of their boss. One of them even moved his lips to tell the skater to _get comfortable because it is going to take a while._ And time wasn't something Natsu wanted to lose at this moment. _'…c'mon, I wanna see if I can check up on Gray at the hospital before joining Loke downtown. I can't stay here until she's done with whatever she's daydreaming about.'_

Sighing profusely, Natsu stepped closer to the senior, ignoring the hands waving at him to stop before anything bad were to happen. What the hell was with those guys? Did they think he wasn't aware of how the chief could get when she was suddenly pulled out of her little world? Hah! Of course he knew.

Hell, he even felt a bit bigger than them, considering he was daring to do something they didn't have the balls to do not even in their wildest dreams.

"Hey, chief, you there?" He leaned forward in front of the girl, same as he did back at the park the day before, however this time he was being consciously careful about their distance. If he was right, what triggered the reaction at that time was his invasion of her personal space. So, maybe staying at arm's length was the best call? "Chieeeeeef? It's me, Dragneel, I wanna go home nooooow."

Seeing as his calls elicited no reaction from her, Natsu sighed and turned to the other best thing he could think of. He pulled out his cellphone from his breast pocket, and while he knew the model he had did not have the best speakers out of the bunch roaming the world, he figured it would be okay for what he wanted it to do at the moment.

He tapped his way to the music folders and clicked on the loudest song he had stored.

"Here goes nothing."

The salmon-haired student tapped the play button and raised the phone with the speakers aimed at the girl.

Meanwhile, everyone else in the room prepared for the worse.

 **Show me a sign!**

 **Show me a reason to give!**

 **A solitary fuck about your god damn beliefs!**

 **I'm going blind! But one thing's clear!**

 **Death is the only salvation you'll fear!**

The loud, static-filled blaring of BMTH's instruments and its vocalist's screams had the effect the pink-haired student was aiming for. Not a second later than the first verse was over, Erza snapped out of her trance with an alarmed expression.

She looked left and right in a panic, trying to discover from where the noise was coming. Once her eyes caught sight of the phone hovering about twenty centimeters in front of her and the person holding it so that the speakers were aimed at her, the alarmed expression changed to one of confusion.

And some annoyance.

"Finally." Natsu nodded to himself and brought his phone closer, tapping the stop button and halting the track before it could get to his favorite part. Shame, really, but he could always hear it from start to finish once this whole thing was over. "You know, you really should stop doing that, chief."

This didn't reach the girl however.

She was still trying to understand what just happened.

"W-what the hell was that!?" Erza asked/yelled to the pink-haired student, showing a pained expression as she used her hands to cover her ears. They were buzzing and throbbing after being caught off-guard with such a loud music genre. "It almost sounded as if someone had thrown a guitar into a shredder!"

"Ay, chief, that's not nice." Natsu frowned, chuckling mentally while he faked to be hurt at her first impression of The House of Wolves. Shoving his phone back in his shirt's pocket, he gave a short nod to the chief. "But I'm willing to forgive you if you forgive me for blasting the music in the first place."

The small smile that was forming on his face didn't sit right with the red-haired girl, but she let it slide, seeing as what he did this time wasn't as outrageous as what he did the day before.

Still…

"You're forgiven, Dragneel… just… cut it with the cocky attitude and never do something like _that_ again." Erza muttered through gritted teeth, carefully withdrawing her hands away from her ears. She flinched a little when she continued to hear the buzzing sound to her right, but chose to ignore it in favor of finishing her business with the skater. "Now listen, I'm also sorry for the way I… _overreacted_ to your teasing yesterday." The pinket's eyes widened in surprise. "I shouldn't have thrown that first aid kit at you… I'm… sorry."

Natsu remained quiet. He was expecting to hear something along the lines of _apology accepted, now get the hell out of my office_ , but this?

He seriously wasn't expecting to hear an apology from her part, even though for anyone with common sense – and having heard the whole story with an impartial mentality from start to finish – the apology from her should be a given.

Still, it was slightly offsetting.

"U-uh… sure, chief, I forgive you for that?" The salmon-haired student responded with his surprise still in place, making his statement come out closer to a question than an actual answer.

"I see… that's good, Dragneel." Despite that little detail, she took it for what it was and settled it there. She still had things to do and returning to her duties was a must if she wanted to leave the school early. _'Okay, we both apologized for the first transgressions… now, if he retracts from what he said afterwards, this matter will be solved.'_ Her mind suddenly clicked and reminded her of the other incident that was brought because of their little scuffle. She brought a hand to her face as she gasped. _'Ah, yes, I have to visit Fullbuster and make sure he's okay. I believe he didn't come to school today because of what happened to his arm.'_

The only thing left then, was for Natsu to apologize for his comment about her… assets.

With that out of the way, they would both be able to return to their usual routines, bringing peace to the corridors of the school and its inhabitants.

But then, this was Natsu we were talking about here.

For the disgrace of everyone.

"So yeah, that's all. Sorry for what I did, it wasn't my place." Finished with his part, Natsu nodded to the flabbergasted girl and turned around to leave the room, mentally patting himself on the back for finally getting the problem solved once and for all. "Okay, chief, that's all. See you..."

The girl stared at his retreating back incredulously.

"Wait... that's it?" Erza gave the retreating boy a look of pure disbelief. Was he really apologizing just for the teasing? _Just_ the teasing? She managed to make an uncomfortable smile with her lips, her left eyebrow twitching at the clueless face the guy was making when he turned around at her question. "Aren't you forgetting something here, Dragneel? It wasn't _just_ the teasing you had to apologize for, remember?"

 _'What is she talking about now?'_ The pinket remained quiet for a moment, blinking in thought while eyeing the restless redheaded girl standing at the front of the room. He looked down, more especifically to what was a few centimeters below her neck and made a noise of acknowledgement. _'Oh! She's talking about those? Really?'_ He grinned cheekily, much to the girl's confusion, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh... c'mon, chief, you can't expect me to apologize for something that can't be changed, do you?"

The uneasy smile vanished at the same time the twitching eyebrow froze in place.

The air in the room was starting to feel asphyxiating all of the sudden.

 _'...he can't be serious.'_ Erza lowered her head in resignation and asked for clarification, more for the boy's salvation than for hers. "Say again?"

Everything was going so well.

Why?

Why would he forget about that?

"Well duh, why should I apologize for what I said about your boobs?"

… _what the hell?_

He would've been better off forgetting about it!

The fact he dared to say it out loud just made the little self-control Erza was using disappear completely. Her new empathetic side turning to dust in the blink of an eye at realizing that now everyone in the committee knew about what the boy said to have her mad at him... and pretty much everyone else by extension.

It was one of the figurative nails that were placed in his figurative coffin.

"It's not like they'll get any smaller if I apologize, now will they?"

And that was the last one.

" **DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGNEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL**!"

After that…

"I said I'm sorry!"

…the rest is...

"And that's how you apologize!? Really!?"

...history.

"I said sorry and then you started bitchin' about –!"

" _LANGUAGE_! We're _inside_ the school! We have _rules_!"

"Oooooh, _fuck_ your rules! _I WON'T WATCH. MY_ _ **FUCKIN**_ _'. LANGUAGE_!"

Unfortunately so.

* * *

 _Infirmary..._

 _Present time…_

"…Natsu, you're definitely _the_ _dumbest_ person I've _ever_ known." Levy said fearlessly once the story was over, uncaring of the guy's feelings once she heard how it was that everything went to hell during a simple encounter that should have cleared away all the bad blood between the disciplinary chief and him. "How could you…? Really? I don't even have words for what you did."

Said boy frowned at her, rolling his eyes at the words. "Sure… but you do have enough to call me dumb as everyone else."

"That's because it's true, Natsu. How did you forget something like that? And after remembering, what drove you to say something like what you said?" The petit bookworm deadpanned, shaking her head. "I swear… don't you ever think before talking?"

"Hey! Of course I do!" Natsu yelled back with some anger, backing away a little and looking down when he figured that, in truth, this new conflict between him and the senior could have been avoided if he had thought a few more seconds on what he was going to say. "…well, most of the time, at least. It's just that I didn't see it as that big a deal, y'know? What's so wrong about letting her know her boobs won't be getting smaller with my apology? It's the truth!"

Levy just sighed.

"Natsu… just forget about it." Looking out the window to the setting sun, the blue-haired girl remembered how she was only sent to ensure nothing bad were to happen in the Committee's office – thing she failed at avoiding –. Jellal never told her about what to do afterwards, and he hadn't sent her any message or anyone to look for her. Maybe she was free to do whatever she wanted? _'If so… what should I do? It's not like I can leave Natsu alone. What if he looks for the chief again and ends up worse than before?'_

This was such a troublesome situation.

If it were up to her, she didn't have a problem in spending some more time with the pinket and try to explain to him why he should never say such rude things to girls ever again. But then, it wasn't like she had all the time in the world.

Who knew how long it would take her to get the lessons through the boy's thick skull?

"Hey, Levy?" Natsu called her while shaking her shoulders slightly, snapping the girl out of her thoughts. When she looked at him, he pointed to his cellphone and the message he had in display. It seemed to be from Loke. "Looks like Gray will be alright."

"…oh, that's good to know." Levy said with little enthusiasm, knowing by a fact that the other member of the odd trio wasn't in any life-threatening danger to begin with. It was good to know he was going to be alright, probably with a cast for the next couple of months, but that wasn't her main concern.

She looked outside again.

' _Should I… should I help Natsu out with this? It seems like the best thing to do for him now.'_ Giving the now texting pinket a scrutinizing look through the corner of her eyes, she couldn't help but get a little anxious. She diverted her eyes to the floor, wanting to hide the very familiar warmth from showing on her face. _'A-also, if I offer to help him with this, it could be the chance I've been waiting for… t-to spend a little bit more of time with him.'_

To each roadblock in life, there's a new path appearing to be taken.

Was this a sign of sorts?

' _Perhaps I should take it… who knows when I will ever get a chance like this one during the rest of our time in high-school?'_ Mentally nodding to herself, Levy faced the pink-haired student on the infirmary bed and steeled herself for the proclamation she was about to make. She even stood up from her chair abruptly and everything, just to give more importance to her words – aside calling the boy's attention, that is. "Natsu!"

The startled boy sat straight in the bed, standing to attention at the sudden call of his name. "Y-yes, Levy!?"

Her next declaration, with her right hand pointing a finger at the skater's face while her free hand went to her hips, made the poor fellow stare in astonishment at her.

"I'm going to help you apologize properly to the chief!"

And also mutter a quite understandable…

"…wait, wut?"

* * *

 _Disciplinary Committee's office…_

 _Around the same time…_

"I'm done here, chief."

"Okay, you can leave then."

"Thanks… good job with Dragneel."

"Hm, don't mention it. Really. Just _don't_." With the last of her subordinates finishing their part of the work – and leaving hurriedly for fear of invoking the wrath of their boss –, Erza was left alone in the office to work on what was left of her own paperwork. Aside some other matters that were not written down in paper and that were currently bothering her mind. _'What's the problem with that guy? Every time it looks like he's about to change my opinion of him, he goes and does something that throws me completely out of my hinges. And he doesn't even try that hard at it!'_

Tilting her head to see the office's broken door to her left, she frowned when thinking on how much it would be taken from the committee's budget to get a new one. And that wasn't done by Dragneel, no. She was the one that broke it when trying to kick the guy out of the room.

Not the best course of action for someone that's supposed to uphold the rules set by the school's administration, but it wasn't like she could have avoided it. Well, maybe she could have, just not this time.

She would have to think about how to explain this to the teachers tomorrow.

'… _sigh. I knew this could happen the minute he stepped into the room to talk.'_ She sighed profusely, dropping her pen to lean back on her chair. She eyed the papers that were left to do and feeling it bothersome to be in the room where everything happened. She figured it would be better if she took the papers home with her. _'I should've been more understanding and tried to keep a more level-headed approach when talking to him… also… why did I let myself get lost in thought again? Ugh!'_

She stood up, saving the papers inside the brown briefcase her mother got her several years ago when she started to attend middle-school and was still with her these days, to later exit the office – carefully avoiding the splinters protruding from the broken door.

She walked down the vacant hallways of the school.

It was calming despite the feeling of loneliness they gave off.

It allowed her self-criticism of the day's events to continue undeterred.

' _Now_ this _is a good moment to lose myself in thought and not when I'm talking to someone.'_ She walked down the two sets of stairs that led to the ground floor and turned right towards the front entrance of the school. The frown she wore when leaving the office was still in its place, deepening by the second. _'Yesterday and today… both times, it was this habit of mine that caused problems for both Dragneel and me…'_ Her eyes narrowed. _'I should find a way to get rid of it before the next time I exchange words with him… or with anyone else for that matter.'_

Her steps weren't hurried by the thoughts in her mind, but despite this, when she got out of her reverie, the school gates were already behind her. The man in charge of closing the gates – a teacher from one of the first year classes, if she guessed right – waved absent-mindedly at her, to which she nodded back in acknowledgement prior to taking the road that would lead her home.

She had a good deal of things to do for the committee once arriving home so looking for a way to cope with her quirk would have to be postponed for later.

It would be weekend in two days and that time off would most likely give her plenty of room to work through the many things in her agenda.

' _I just hope nothing happens between today and Saturday.'_ She thought as the first lights of the streets came to life around her, signaling the start of the evening. _'I'd hate it if something were to ruin my plans now of all times.'_

Funny thing she thinks that.

Don't you agree?

* * *

 _Fairy Tail High…_

 _Nighttime…_

The sound of feet steeping lazily over the dirt covering the sports field echoed across the backyard of the school, signaling that someone – or more than one person – other than the few teachers allowed there in these late hours of the night was skulking around the campus.

The lack of lighting made it quite obvious that these people weren't teachers. The few people allowed at this late hour were currently carrying out their rounds inside the main building, the yellow light of their flashlights visible from outside thanks to the large windows at one side of the hallways used by the students every day.

This begged the question.

Who could these strangers be?

Why would they go through the trouble of infiltrating a school at this hour?

And why were they stopping in front of the school's deposit, staring at one of the walls of the building with rapt attention?

* * *

 _Fairy Tail High…_

 _Daytime…_

"What in the _infiernos_ happened here!?" Jellal yelled to the top of his lungs once he managed to get through the mass of students surrounding the school's old deposit, glaring fiercely at the wall that faced the rest of the facilities and the obscenities that what were written on it. He turned left and right, trying to meet eyes with someone that could have the answer, but aside the members of the student council following him, the students avoided his inquisitive gaze. "Huh? C'mon! Does anyone here has any idea what this _mierda_ is!?"

There was a wide and colorful list of the most infuriating insults the school and its members had gotten in the last few years on the wall, written in black, green and purple letters that were obviously from spray cans, of which there were a couple of lying around.

Hell, this was on par with the incidents that used to occur when the principal's grandson and his group used to get in fights with the schools from the neighboring towns.

'Joder _… just when I thought I'd never have to deal with this type of thing.'_ Calming down after his initial outburst, Jellal started to give instructions to his entourage, ordering them to disperse the students loitering around and also to save the spray cans lying on the ground. When the class-rep from one of the senior years moved to do the latter and passed next to him, the azure-haired president stopped him with a hand of his shoulder, leaning in to whisper something. "Keep them in our office under lock and key, I don't want _anyone_ taking them from us, got it?"

The fellow senior nodded slowly and moved to do as told, leaving Jellal to inspect the wall in more detail.

He knew there were some parties and other schools that had something of a rivalry with them, yet none of them gave signs of moving to do something like this in the last couple of years.

So this meant it was the job of a small group or just one person.

' _But who? Who could've done this?'_

His eyes narrowed when not even a single name came to him.

Maybe he would have to ask around the school, see if anyone had been into fights lately and – wait? Fights outside the school?

His eyes widened in realization.

A hand went to his face to hide it from everyone as he groaned tiredly.

'… _why does everything bad that happens here is connected to them,_ joder _!?'_


End file.
